Connect the Dots
by CrazyTalk32
Summary: Taryn Summers says that she hates Sirius Black with all her heart, mind and soul, but does she really mean what she says? And does she really know the truth about Sirius?
1. When Hatred Shows You Something

I'm horrible with first and last chapters. I bet you'll be able to tell after you read this. But I'm better with the other chapters, so please don't just ignore them because this is a bad chapter. I'll try my best to make this chapter good.

….

It all started when Professor Kane assigned groups for a Defense Against the Dark Arts research project, and my group was Lily, me, James Potter and… Sirius Black.

My best friend Lily hates James Potter. She absolutely hates him, and I'm not sure he even knows it, no matter how much she tries to get the message to him. He asks her out constantly, and she constantly declines. There's something about the way that he's always messing up his hair and playing around with a golden snitch that makes Lily want to kill him.

Now, I don't mind Potter. He's okay. He would actually be pretty cool if he didn't bother Lily that much.

The person I hate is Sirius Black. He has this way of making girls falling for him the second they look at him, but I know better than that. He has a different girlfriend every week, which must be interesting, but even though I'm not sure who dumps who, I think it's pretty mean of him.

Lily thinks I might like Black, but that is the opposite of how I feel about him. For some reason, in her eyes, she can hate Potter, but I have to love Black.

….

Taryn Summers walked into Professor Kane's classroom and sat down in a seat in the middle of the room. Normally, she would like to sit in the back of the classroom so she could occasionally whisper something to her best friend Lily Evans (who would listen but never answer until the end of class), but the Marauders were in this class, and they always sat in the back of class.

Lily was already sitting in the seat next to her. She was writing her name on the top of her homework with a rainbow quill, dipped in pink ink that matched the color of the bracelet and earrings she was wearing.

"Good morning class!" said Professor Kane as she walked into the classroom.

After hearing the class mumble a 'hello' back, the professor continued talking. "Today I will assign groups for the research project I mentioned last lesson. There will be no option to switch groups, and you should have no reason to want to anyway. It's time to break away from the same old groups of friends, and meet some new people to add them to your collection of acquaintances." She paused. "Before that though, I will describe some details of the project I had not mentioned last class."

Taryn looked over at Lily and whispered, "If we're not in the same group, I'm going to hurt Kane."

Professor Kane paced around the classroom, talking and watching the class. Eventually, she started to assign the partners. "Pettigrew, Lupin, Daniels and Baroncini… Brouillet, Malfoy, Lestrange and Diaz… Evans, Summers" Taryn grinned at Lily. "And Potter and Black."

Her happiness flew away as she looked behind me and saw Black giving Potter a high five. She was going to fail this project!

….

Black caught up to her after class. She was walking one way and Lily the other because she had Ancient Runes, while Taryn had Divination. She felt someone grab her shoulder, and she instantly turned around. It was Sirius Black.

"What do you want Black?"

"Stuff."

Taryn tossed some of her long brown hair behind her shoulder. "What do you want Black?" she repeated.

"For you and Evans to meet in the common room after dinner." He said. "So we can discuss the project."

"Why didn't you just say that?"

"Becau-" he started but Taryn interrupted. "Bye."

….

"They're either not coming, or they're pulling some prank on us. I know it." Lily muttered.

"They'll come. I know it." Taryn sighed.

Lily closed her eyes. "They better be here in 10 seconds… 9… 8…"

Taryn blinked. "Lily…"

Lily ignored her. "7… 6…"

"Hey Evans." Said a voice.

She turned around. "Potter… One word about going out with me, and I'll kill you."

Taryn looked at Sirius. He was sitting on the edge of the couch. "So, I was thinking that Prongs and Evans will research the first part, and everyone else could do the second part."

By now, she had figured out that Sirius was Padfoot and James was Prongs, but why had Sirius decided to make Potter happy and leaving him to do the part with her? Why?

"Can't we split it into four parts?"

"Well…"

Taryn gave him a look that said you-better-say-yes-or-I'll-kill-you and he finally agreed.

"Okay, okay, but can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why do you really popular girls all hate us Marauders?"

She was baffled by the question. Popular? She wasn't popular. No way. "I'm not popular."

"Yes, you are. Think about it." He stood up and walked away with Potter.

….

So she thought about it that night, when she was trying to fall asleep. What was the exact meaning of popular? Popular… Everyone knows popular people, and likes them.

Everyone knew her, but did they all like her? Most of them at least…

Taryn had always thought popular people were the opposite of her, but the more she thought about it, she knew she was popular.

….


	2. The Truth Behind Anger

This is going to be focused on Taryn and Sirius, because it takes place during their 6th year, and Lily doesn't start liking James until their 7th year. There is going to be a sequel, which will be called 'Lies' and it will still be focused on Taryn and Sirius, but on Lily and James as well.

The reason Sirius doesn't flirt with Taryn is because he 'hates' her.

….

There was a giant food fight during breakfast the next morning. Guess who started it… Taryn, and the Marauders. Guess who got detention… Taryn and the Marauders.

"This is all your fault." Taryn muttered, walking into Professor Kane's office that afternoon after dinner. Sirius was standing next to her.

"All your fault." She sat down.

"You've had some bacon in your hair all day." Black whispered.

Taryn sighed, taking out the bacon and throwing it at him. She and Sirius had detention with Kane while Peter, James and Remus had detention with Professor Dumbledore.

Kane came in and made them wash the floors.

….

Taryn walked right up to her dormitory and took a cold shower to get her mind off of things. Her mind? It felt like she had lost it when she found out Black was in her group… Or maybe she hadn't even had it?

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself as she walked out of the bathroom and back into her dormitory.

There was a big and black, yet cute dog sitting on her bed. Taryn sighed, trying to push it off, but it was stubborn and wouldn't get off the bed, so she sat down next to it and started to pet it with her left hand as she brushed her hair with her right hand. "Hey. Do you have an owner?" she asked the dog, which shook his head, in an almost human way.

"Oh… You're so lucky. There's no one in your life to judge you, and tell you who you are, and what you are, and who your friends should be. Sometimes I wish I could be a dog… Dogs don't have to listen to what people like Sirius Black have to say. Black has it _sooo_ easy. He gets whatever he wants and he never even has to do anything. His life is so perfect. He has everything, and that is why he always acts so stupid and… Sometimes I wonder how it would feel like to be one of those girls who date him for a week or more. Sometimes I wish…If only Black wasn't so arrogant and idiotic, then… I mean, he's so hot…. I wonder how it would feel to be someone who doesn't care, like all those ex-girlfriends of Black, or someone who doesn't need to care, like Black." Taryn stood up and grabbed some pajamas. The dog ran out.

….

"I had no idea!" Sirius said, hitting his head against the pillow.

"How could you have had no idea about why Taryn hates you?" James asked.

Remus nodded. "It's actually pretty obvious."

"How was it obvious? I just thought that she hated me for no reason at all."

"Taryn's not stupid." James said. "If she was, she wouldn't be Evans' best friend."

Sirius sighed, "And she was about to start getting dressed, so I as a good boy and left."

Remus laughed. "Somehow I find that hard to believe…"

"You saying that I'm a p-" He started.

"Yes. Well… no, but you sometimes think like one." James laughed.

Sirius grinned. "Only sometimes, but I swear I left."

….

Taryn pushed Lily off of her bed, then pushed off all the other girls in the dormitory. It was her way of waking them up when she was in a good mood.

"Rise and shine!" she said, then ran down to the common room and sat down on the couch, waiting for someone she knew to come into the common room.

The dog from the night before walked into the common room and hopped onto Taryn's lap. "Back again?" Taryn smiled. "I suppose you want me to keep petting you and telling you about my life…"

She pet his back, and scratched behind his ears, making him bark. "Lily keeps telling me that she knows I like Black, but that's impossible, because if I hate him, how could I like him? Honestly, I hate him with all my heart, mind and soul, and I feel sort of good saying that. I hate Sirius Black. I hate Sirius Black…" She smiled and continued. "On the other hand, Lily can't even say the word Potter without tearing out all of her red hair, but if he just deflated his head a bit, he would actually have a chance with going out with her. If he actually stopped picking on poor Severus, Lily actually wouldn't hate him, you know? I could tell him that, but why would I want to?"

Taryn stopped talking because people started coming down into the common room.

….

Sirius tossed some bacon into James' mouth. James grinned, swallowing it.

"So Taryn _really _hates me." Sirius said.

"Haven't you known that your whole life?" James asked.

"Yeah, but now…"

"Now you care?" Remus asked.

"No!" Sirius said quickly. "Now I know why… And by the way, Prongs, Taryn says that if you deflate your head and stop bothering Snivellus, Evans might like you."

James nodded, letting the information soak in.

Peter looked at Remus with a look, as if he was telling him to say something by thoughts. "Don't you think you're abusing your ability to be a dog? And violating Taryn's privacy?"

"No." Sirius said, eating some bacon.

….

Lily poked Taryn. "You okay?" she asked. "You're pretty quiet today."

"Just in a bad mood." Taryn muttered, eating some toast. "That's all."

"Yeah, sure."

"I'm not lying. When have I ever lied to you?"

"Um…"

"Exactly." Taryn grabbed the toast and stood up. She walked down to the other end of the table, where the Marauders were sitting, but she didn't sit down next to them. She sat down next to two girls from her dormitory; Clara and Josie. They always sat near the Marauders, but never talked to them.

"Over the river and through the woods, to grandmothers house we goo…" Clara was singing quietly.

Taryn stood up. "See you later." She stood up and walked out of the Great Hall.

She sat down right outside and looked down at her green hands… green?!

Taryn ran down the corridor and into the girls' bathroom. She stared into the mirror. She had green skin….

"Black… Black!" Taryn ran out of the bathroom and into the Great Hall. She didn't care if people saw her. No she didn't.

Taryn grabbed Black's tie and pulled him out of the Great Hall. "You okay? You look a little green today." Sirius laughed.

Taryn punched him. "You…. You…"

Sirius smirked. "You can't hurt me, Summers."

She kicked him, and he stepped back a bit, but didn't look hurt. "Just turn me back to my normal color."

"I can't."

She punched him. Black squeaked. "Ouch… But I seriously can't. It wears off after a while."

"How long?"

"No idea."

Taryn kicked him one more time and then walked away.

….

"I can't believe he did that to me, Snuffles." Taryn said to the black dog later that day. She had named him Snuffles. "Honestly, if he weren't so… so immature then he would actually be… Nevermind. I'll always hate him. I know that. Duh."

The dog hopped off the ground and onto her lap. He laid his head on her hand.

Taryn smiled. "And hate is how I'll feel about him forever. Past, present, future…"

….


	3. When You Can't Pull Away

Taryn hopped off the couch and up walked up to her dormitory to find Lily. She wasn't there, so she walked back into the bathroom to see the color of her skin.

Now it was even worse! She was less green, and more of her normal skin color, but now it looked like she was about to barf all over the mirror. She looked sicker now then when she looked like a Martian from Mars.

"I am going to _kill_ Black." She muttered, walking back into her dormitory and opening the window, letting the cold in.

"Snow…," said a voice. Taryn turned around. It was… why was Remus in the girls' dormitory? And how'd he get up there?

Remus wasn't horrible. He was smart, and he was rather polite too, but he was still friends with Potter and Black, and that was why Taryn didn't like him at all. "What are you doing up here?" she asked. "You're a prefect. You should know better than to be up here."

"And I also know that I have to stop someone when they're doing something wrong, even if they're my friends, so…"

Taryn clenched her fists. "If this has anything to do with Black, Potter or Pettigrew, then I don't want to hear it. Tell a teacher! _I_ don't want to hear it!" She pushed Remus out.

"But Sirius is-"

"No!" Taryn pushed him out the door and closed it behind him. She locked it.

She sighed, walking back to the window and staring at the snow falling slowly. "Snow…"

Down below, there were first years building snowmen, second years racing on snowboards and third years skating on the frozen lake. Fourth years were playing hockey, and fifth years were just walking around. Seventh years were throwing snowballs at unsuspecting victims, but the sixth years were all inside, the way all of Hogwarts was when there was rain and thunder.

Taryn wished she could be out there in the snow, like everyone else, but it seemed impossible just to go back down into the common room. She had to stay in the dormitory and wait for Lily, so she could complain to her about Sirius turning her green.

But Lily probably wasn't going to come soon, so she came down to the common room and looked around. She wasn't there either. Maybe she was on prefect watch, or whatever it was called.

There was nobody sitting on the couch she liked so much, so she decided to go sit there.

When she was only half way there, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and guided her over to the dark corner of the room, and even though she had no idea who the person was, she couldn't help but walk to the place he wanted her to go.

Taryn turned around to see who was holding her waist. It was a bit dark, but she recognized the perfect dark hair and great body. It was Sirius Black.

Feeling pretty awkward just standing there, with her body only a centimeter away from his, Taryn looked down at the floor. What was she doing? Why wasn't she pushing him away? Didn't she hate him?

Taryn felt Sirius' hand lift her chin up, and bring her lips up to meet his in a warm kiss.

….

"You kissed Sirius Black!?" Lily screamed of anger and surprise… mostly surprise.

"I did not!" Taryn yelled.

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"He kissed me." She said in a small, quiet voice.

"Did you push him away after? Did he force the kiss on you? Did you beat him up?"

"No, no, and no…" She said in an even quieter voice.

"Did you… like the kiss?"

Taryn stood up and walked out of her dormitory.

….

It didn't make any sense. She hated Sirius, and he knew that, and most likely hated her too…

Taryn looked down at Snuffles. "I hate him. He should know that. Why'd he kiss me?" She paused. "But it's not like he's a horrible kisser, or like he forced the kiss on me. He didn't even… It wasn't even the kind of kiss that's… the kind of kiss that you give someone right before you make out with them… It was the kind of kiss that you give someone to tell them you love them, but that can't be true, because he's Black. Black is incapable of _really_ loving someone, just fake love. You know?… Black is such a little… bat. A filthy vampire bat that devours animal and sucks out their blood and kills people and…" She stood up and walked out of the Dormitory.

….

"Hey Evans! Am I a filthy vampire bat?" Sirius asked Lily at breakfast the next morning.

"Yes. Get away from me." She muttered, eating the eggs on her plate.

Sirius walked back to James, Peter and Remus. "Evans says I'm a filthy vampire bat." He said, sitting down and piling pancakes onto his plate.

Peter laughed. "Because you are." He said.

James looked at Sirius. "Yeah…"

Sirius looked hurt, although he really wasn't. "You really mean it?"

"No, they don't." Remus said, not looking up from the book he was reading.

Sirius grinned. "Good."

….

Taryn walked out of the castle and looked around at the snowy grounds. It was so beautiful in the morning before anyone went outside and trampled all over the white puffy stuff- also known as snow.

She walked down the small path. There was no snow on it, because the headmaster enchanted it so the snow wouldn't fall on it.

Taryn stepped into the snow and started walking towards the lake. "Hoot!" a few owls flew over her, causing her hair to look rather messy.

The lake was a beautiful shade of icy blue that sparkled in the morning sun. It was the kind of view, that it's impossible to turn your eyes away, even if you know you should be somewhere else, or doing something else.

And she did have to be somewhere else. Classes were starting in 10 minutes, which wasn't even enough time to get inside, to the common room, and to the class.

But it was Potions. She could always miss that. The professor never takes attendance. He _wants_ people to be missing. He hates our class.

The bad news was that even though she had went outside to forget all about Black, she saw his face every time she closed her eyes.

Taryn blinked. She saw Black's face, so she opened her eyes and she… saw Black's face. "What the heck?"

"You're not hallucinating." He whispered.

Oh no! He couldn't be there. Why wasn't he in class? Why did he have too skip on the _same exact day_ as her?

"Oh, I'm not? But I thought it was impossible to _really_ see someone as gruesome as you!" Taryn pushed him back so she wouldn't have to feel weird about his face being an inch away.

"I would say the same, of course, but I don't hallucinate, so I supposed your were wearing a mask."

"Honestly, Black. I have heard that insult thousands of times. It's so cliché."

"You've heard it thousands of times? Was it the same few people that insult you so much, or one thousand people who said it once each?"

"A thousand people said it a few times… about you."

Black punched her arm lightly. "We need… We need to talk."

They needed to talk? Black was weeeiird. "About what?" she asked.

"Me."

"What about you?" she asked, then sarcastically said, "About how awesomely great you are?"

"No, quite the opposite, Summers."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I need to tell you some stuff, because of some things I've heard from very reliable sources."

"Continue." She muttered, lying down in the soft snow.

"My life isn't all perfect and easy. I just do a good job in making it look like it is." He said.

"Yeah, right."

"First of all, it is _not_ as easy as it looks to chose who to go out with, and to not go out of control because of my popularity."

"Yeah, it is."

"No it's not… And also, I don't even live with my parents. I live with James and his parents."

"How is that bad? You get to live with your best friend."

"Yeah, but not when you spend your summer nights wondering if your parents hate you, or despise you." Sirius muttered. "But by now I know it's both."

His parents hate him? Taryn pretended not be feel bad. "Okay, whatever Black…"

He could be lying…

But why would he lie?

Taryn knew the truth, the real truth. Sirius Black's life was **not** perfect.

….

"He kissed you again!?!?" Lily screamed.

"No…" Taryn said quietly. "I kissed him."

"YOU KISSED HIM?"

She nodded slowly.

"What kind of kiss?"

Taryn closed her eyes, remembering it clearly. The second she realized that Black liked her, and that (now that she knew that his life wasn't easy) she liked him, she tackled him to the group and kissed him senseless, and they spent the next half an hour rolling around in the snow, making out.

And when she was right below him, he had told her that he had always liked her.

And she lifted her head up so her lips met his, and told him that she loved him.

And he had kissed her back… Then they brushed the snow off of themselves and went back inside.

But Lily didn't have to know about their wonderful hour together. "Just like the first one. I kissed him lightly on the lips, Lily. I didn't even want to though. Trust me."

Lily didn't sound convinced. "I don't believe you Taryn…. Wake up!"

….

Taryn sat up quickly and saw Lily. "I swear! I didn't want to kiss him!"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said that he kissed you…"

Taryn blinked. It had all been a dream. The kiss, the conversation with Lily… All a dream. "He did. Sorry. Just a dream."

But she wasn't sure if she had really talked to Sirius. She knew she hadn't kissed him but… had they really been out there talking?

Or maybe that whole morning she remembered was fake, and February 2nd was really today, not yesterday… "What day is it?"

"February 3rd. Why?"

She had really talked to Sirius. His life really wasn't perfect…

But **_what_** did her dream mean? Did it mean that she really did like Black? Or maybe it meant that he liked her. Or both… But it was impossible. They hated each other. They despised each other. They… well, they weren't enemies, but they were two acquaintances who hated each other.

She didn't like him. She hated him. She could not like him. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. She _hated_ him. She _HATED _him. She **_HATED_ **him. She **_HATED_** him. SHE HATED HIM. **_SHE HATED HIM_**…**_ SHE HATED HIM WITH ALL HER HEART, MIND AND SOUL!!!_**

Okay, maybe she didn't really hate him so much that she wanted to kill him, but…

Let the record show that Taryn Isabella Summers hated Sirius Mortiemer Black.

….

Taryn's a bit angry right now, so I suggest you step back a little or she'll just tell you to bugger off anyway and you'll be wasting your time.


	4. The Shock Of Someone Else

Where did I leave off? Oh yeah…

….

Taryn walked to the Great Hall with one thought in her mind: _I hate him!_

She sat down and looked over at the 4 boys. They were talking, laughing and eating. They seemed so care free. Black did a good job in hiding his flaws.

Potter stood up… And walked over to where Lily and I were sitting.

Without looking up from her plate, Lily said, "No, Potter, I will not go out with you."

Potter laughed. "Today, that is not why I come to this table. Today I must talk to Miss Summers about two matters." He turned to Taryn. "Miss Summers." James held out his hand.

She didn't know whether to take it or not. What if he wanted to talk about Sirius? Or what if he just wanted to try to get her to convince Lily to go out with him?

Taryn glanced at Lily, who was glaring at James, and at the same time giving Taryn a look that said you-better-not-talk-to-someone-I-hate.

You know how they say that curiosity killed the cat? Well… Taryn was not a cat.

She grabbed Potter's hand, giving an apologetic look to Lily while she stood up and followed Potter out of the Great Hall.

"What do you want, Potter?"

"A favor."

"If this has anything to do with-"

"No, it has nothing to do with Evans."

"Does it-"

"This first matter has nothing to do with Sirius either."

Did that mean the second matter had something to do with Sirius!

"Then what do you want?"

"The second Gryffindor Quidditch game is coming up. There has been Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw and Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff. Now it is Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. And I'm pretty sure you know how good the Ravenclaw team is this year. Right?"

"Riiight."

"Now, I must admit that I have seen you playing Quidditch before and-"

"Do you spy on me while I play Quidditch with my friends?"

"Noo. I just see you. But anyway, I know you are an excellent beater and-"

"The team already has a beater."

"He broke both arms and a hip and Professor Dumbledore forbids me to make him play! Can you believe that!"

"No I can't." She said sarcastically.

"So, will you take his place, please?"

"Are you sure you want a girl on the team?"

"Yeah. You're strong!"

"Thanks." She punched his arm.

"And the second matter… Is about Sirius."

"I figured that out already."

"Well… Even though he doesn't show it, he's really upset that you hate him and that you think he's a bat and that he's incapable of loving and-"

"How does he know I said that? I was talking to.. to a dog!"

"Well… Sirius knows the dog."

"So? Dogs don't talk."

"Well."

"Well what?"

"Well whatever. Bye."

"Bye." She walked back into the Great Hall.

Lily looked at her. "Did he-"

"Quidditch. He needed a Quidditch related favor. That's all."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Lily.Yes."

….

Taryn walked into the common room. Snuffles was sitting on the couch, sleeping. She didn't trust him anymore, so she ignored the big black dog as she walked right back out of the common room… and into a guy.

Taryn looked up at him. He was half a foot taller than she was. "Sorry." She muttered.

"No, it was my fault." He grinned.

She smiled. The guy had brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. Why hadn't she seen him around before? Was he a Gryffindor?

"My name's Alex." He said, looking down at her.

"I'm Taryn… Are you in Gryffindor?"

"Yeah. I'm the new Head Boy." He grinned.

"Oh, cool." He was in 7th year. That was why she never saw him. "What happened to the old one?"

"He quit." Alex said.

"Oh… Well, see you later."

"Bye." Alex seemed to be considering something. He bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, bye." She started to walk away.

"Wait!" He grabbed her arm.

"What?" Taryn asked.

"Wanna go out sometime?" he asked.

She smiled. "Sure."

"How about…. Wanna go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

"Sure."

….

The next day was Saturday, and Taryn woke up early and ran into the bathroom to get ready for her day at Hogsmeade. She brushed her hair and left it down, even though she put it up in a pony tail very often, and liked it better that way.

She actually put on some make up, and she almost never put on make up! But she was going with Alex, and Alex was a 7th year guy.

Now, what to wear? Most days were so simple, but this wasn't because she had to choose what to wear. Normally, she had to wear her uniform, but you didn't have to wear it when going to Hogsmeade, so she practically _had_ to wear something else.

Taryn finally decided on a pink skirt (a lot, like the one included in the uniform, but pink), a cotton candy blue shirt, and blue and pink stockings. It wasn't too informal, but not too formal and dressy either. It was perfect!

She threw on her school robe and ran into the common room. Sirius Black and James Potter were sitting on the couch, talking, and stopped when she came in.

"Why are you so dressed up just for a Hogsmeade trip?" James asked.

"Because." She smiled.

Sirius stood up and walked over to her. "Would you go with me by any chance?"

Did Black just ask her if she would go to Hogsmeade with him?

"No way." She said.

"Aww, why not?"

"I already have a date." Taryn said.

James laughed. "Who, other than Padfoot, would wanna go out with you?"

"Someone hotter than you." She giggled, walking out of the common room, leaving Sirius standing there in shock.

….

Alex held out his hand "Good morning."

Taryn held his hand. "Good morning." She smiled.

They walked down to the train. "Ladies first." He said, letting Taryn go on the train before him.

Taryn smiled, walking into a compartment and sitting down across from Alex. "So, umm…"

Alex looked down at his hands, thinking of something clever to say. "Are you in any of my classes?"

He still didn't realize she was a 6th year student! "I don't think so." She said.

"Oh, too bad. My classes are so wild." He smiled.

"How?"

"My friends. We all talk during class and the teachers never seem to mind. I suppose they've decided to give us the punishment in our grades." He laughed.

Taryn smiled. She looked out the window.

"What's so interesting out there?"

"Nothing…"

"Oh… So, whatcha wanna do?"

"Nothing." She said.

"What do you have to say besides 'nothing'?"

"Nothing." She smiled.

Alex grabbed her shoulders and turned her around so she was looking at him. For a second, Taryn thought he was going to kiss her, but all he did was grin widely.

"Guess what?" he said.

"What?"

"Yesterda-" he started but stopped when he heard somebody walking into the compartment.

"Hey Summers." Said Sirius Black.

"Get out Black." Taryn muttered, standing up.

"Why should I?" He asked, smirking.

"Because I said so." She clenched her fists.

"You can't hurt me. You know that."

"You know very well that I'm stronger than you when I'm mad. You know it, Potter knows it, we all know it."

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, right."

Taryn punched his nose, making it start bleeding. "Don't make me kick you."

"I don't care if you kick me. All your strength is in your arms."

She sighed. "Leave or I'll give you a black eye, Black."

He ignored her, walking over to Alex, who was watching with interest. "Who's this? Your boyfriend?"

"No, he's a friend. Now, leave, because I know by now that you like me, and you're jealous. I saw the look on your face when I said that I already had a date."

"It was a look of surprise. Honestly, I thought you were smarter than that, Taryn."

"Oh, but I am." She grinned.

"Then you would know that I hate you just as much as you hate me."

"Oh, but I do." She said, her grin widening. "You hate me, and you love me, and-"

"Taryn, you can't stop thinking of me, can you?"

Taryn grinned. "No, Black, no I can't."

Sirius grinned, pulling Taryn close and kissing her lips passionately, and just like the first kiss, Taryn couldn't let herself pull away, no matter how much she hated him. Black's kisses were addictive.

….

SO sorry that it took so long. I'm so lazy, and I've had so much on my mind lately. By the way, do you think I should lower the rating down to PG for now or leave it like this? I'm not good with rating things… Mention your opinion in your review if you review.


	5. When You Take The Rebound

_I just finished this really cool fan fiction involving Sirius Black, and if you like this one, you will most likely like that one. It's way better than this one, and I've been working on it for a month, nonstop and it's finally done! Yayness! Twenty-one chapters! Last one is a bit sad though... I'm putting it up soooon._

….

"Is he your boyfriend?" Alex asked after Sirius left.

Taryn laughed and shook her head. "Of course not. I hate him."

"Then why'd you kiss him?"

"I didn't kiss him. He kissed me." She said, looking out the window.

"Why'd you let him?"

"The guy has very addictive kisses." The second she said it, she regretted it. It sounded like she didn't care that she was on a date with Alex.

Alex nodded. "Oh." He sighed, looking down at the floor.

Taryn, feeling that she might've hurt his feelings, lifted his head up and kissed his lips. "I don't like him. I hate him. Okay? You're the one I like."

Alex smiled. "Great."

The train stopped a minute later, and they got off. "So, where do you want to go?" Alex asked.

"TARYN!" called a voice.

Taryn turned around and saw Lily. "You were supposed to come with me to find my dress for that party I was invited to!"

"Oh yeah." She said quietly.

Lily looked at Alex. "Hi, I'm Lily Evans."

"You're the 6th year prefect." Alex said, then looked over at Taryn. "You're a 6th year?"

Taryn nodded. "Guess I didn't tell you… So, can I go with Lily, then find you?"

"Well… you can spend the whole day with her if you want."

"But-"

He walked away.

Lily looked at Taryn apologetically. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I didn't like him that much anyway. Let's go."

….

"That dress looks marvelous on you, Lily!" Taryn smiled at Lily, who was wearing an emerald green dress.

"You really think so?" She asked, looking in the mirror.

"Yeah." Yawned Taryn.

Lily smiled, walking over to a shelf of hair things and picking out a beautiful green hairpin. "I want this…"

"Then buy it."

"I can't afford it. I only brought 50 galleons, enough for this dress, and 2 galleons left over for food." Lily sighed.

"And how much does the pin cost?"

"I don't know. Lemme see." She looked at the little tag on the shelf where it was, and let out a small gasp.

"How much?"

"It costs more than the dress!"

"And how much does the dress cost?"

"48 galleons."

"And how much does the pin cost?"

"53 galleons."

"Wow." Said Taryn quietly.

"Yeah." Lily sighed, putting the pin back down on the shelf. "I'll never afford this."

"Maybe you can get it for your birthday." Taryn said.

"No way." Lily sighed, walking into the changing room to change back into her normal clothes.

….

Taryn smiled. "Where to now?" she asked Lily.

"No idea." She said.

"Where's your boyfriend?" asked a voice.

The girls turned around and saw the Marauders; Black and Potter looking at them, but Lupin and Pettigrew not paying much attention.

"He wasn't my boyfriend. And he isn't here right now. The date was canceled."

Black smirked. "He dumped you."

"No, he didn't." Lily said, stepping in front of her and glaring at the boys.

Potter grinned. "Hey, Evans, would you do me a favor and-"

"No, Potter. Not in a million years. I don't even get how you stay on the ground when you have a big head filled with helium. And only that."

James looked disappointed. "Okay…"

"Would you do us a favor and go away?"

"Sure." They walked away.

….

Taryn walked into the Three Broomsticks with Lily. It was almost time to leave but they decided to have some butterbeer before going back.

Lily drank her butterbeer slowly, then looked up at Taryn. "So what's up with you and Black?"

"What about us? We're still enemies as much as we were a year ago." Taryn shrugged, taking a big sip of her butterbeer to have an excuse to not talk.

"Well I heard that he kissed you on the train and that would mean that he kissed you twice and that's rather-"

She swallowed the butterbeer in her mouth and said, "You can't always listen to rumors. You know that. And you also know that I hate Sirius Black. Period."

Why did Lily always have to think that something was different? She had to learn that sometimes things were the same as usual…

And well, she was right that somethings could change, and would change, but definitely not how Taryn felt about Sirius Black.

….

Sirius laid down on the couch in his dog form. He didn't feel like being a human. He felt like being a dog, so he was.

James was sitting on the floor. "You're so lucky. You can change and no one would suspect anything, but of course, people could get a bit suspicious if there's a stag in the common room." He sighed.

Sirius nodded and barked in agreement.

Remus sat down next the James. "At least you have control whenever you transform."

"Yeah but-"

"And at least you're more than half a foot tall." Peter muttered, sitting down on the other side of James.

James nodded. "Padfoot is so lucky."

Sirius jumped off of the couch and onto James, tackling him onto the ground. He had a look of anger on his face once he turned into human. He glared at James. "Don't call me that, Prongs. _Never._"

James pushed Sirius back. "Okay, okay. Chill, mate."

Sirius took a deep breath. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay."

The other three boys watched Sirius walk up to the dormitory.

….

Taryn walked down into the common room, ignoring the three boys sitting on the floor. She walked right up to the boys' dormitory, not even hesitating breaking the rule that said that girls weren't allowed in the boys' dormitory.

Sirius was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice that she was in there until she sat down on his bed and pushed him off.

He stood up and sat back down on his bed. "What are you doing in here?"

"We need to talk." Taryn smiled.

"We just talked a while ago."

"About you, and only you. Now we got to talk about both of us."

"What about?"

"You know, Black. _Why_ do you kiss me so much?"

"Twice."

"Which is two more than enough."

"You like it." He grinned.

"I do not! I hate it!"

"You think I'm a good kisser… And you even told me that you can't stop thinking of me."

"About how much I hate you." She muttered.

"Taryn... I am going to kiss you, and then you are going to tell me how you feel. Okay?"

"NO, no way, I will never-" she was interrupted with a deep, passionate kiss given to her by Sirius Black.

….


	6. The Secret Revealed

A/N: Merlin! Plot bunnies have invaded my mind, and I can no longer think of new stories! I'm done writing this one and I'm not making a sequel. I started writing a Lily and James fanfiction but I lost my inspiration and can no longer write it. I had a good idea for another one and I wrote two thousand words, then lost inspiration too! Well, without further ado, the next chapter of Connect the Dots!

….

He wouldn't take his lips off of hers. Sirius opened his eyes for a few seconds to see the look on her face, and then closed his eyes again.

Taryn was so shocked that he had kissed her that she didn't even noticed when he slowly slid his tongue into her mouth, his arms held tightly around her. Even if she wanted to, she couldn'tve pulled away. But she didn't want to.

Sirius slid his tongue back into his mouth but left his lips on hers for a few more seconds.

"How did that feel?" he asked, letting go off her.

"It felt-" she ran out of the room so she wouldn't have to answer to his face.

….

She avoided him until History of Hogwarts class on Monday. It was the last class of the day. When she was sure Professor Binns wasn't looking, she ripped off a piece of parchment and scribbed some words onto it.

Taryn tossed the note to Sirius, who missed it and had no choice but to just watch as it was picked up by Severus Snape and read.

He read the note and snickered, throwing it into the air, and letting it be caught by some more Slytherins.

By the time it got to Sirius, all the Slytherins in class had read it without Professor Binns noticing.

Sirius unfolded the paper. The words were sort of smudged, but he made out that it said, "It felt warm, happy, extraordinary and wonderful. It was the most pleasureful experience in my life. It was the best kiss anyone ever gave me."

He looked over at Taryn and smiled. She smiled back and whispered. "But that doesn't mean that I don't still hate you. It just means you're a good kisser."

Sirius nodded in understandment. "And I still hate you too, babe."

Taryn grinned. "Good." She whispered back, and punched his arm.

….

She walked into the common room. She didn't feel like eating dinner, so she went to the common room and sat down on the couch.

Taryn looked around the empty common room. There was one other person there…. She stood up and walked over to them. Once she was closer, she realized that he was Remus Lupin, looking sort of pale and sick. "You okay, Remus?" she asked.

Remus nodded. "Yeah…"

"You don't look it." She said down next to him.

"I must've ate something bad for dinner."

"But you didn't even _eat_ dinner."

"Yeah, well… I'll be all right, okay? Please don't try to help me."

"Well… okay." She hugged him, and stood up. "Bye."

….

That night, Taryn fell asleep on the couch but was awaken by the sound of footsteps. She opened her eyes to see that Remus was walking downstairs with Snuffles and a stag. She raised an eyebrow. That was the oddest group she had ever seen in her life.

She didn't say anything, hoping they wouldn't notice her because of the darkness. Dogs saw black and white, which probably meant that they had bad vision, and Remus probably had bad vision because of his sickness. And the stag, she had no idea about.

As they walked by, she asked herself where they were going, and why when Remus wasn't feeling well.

They didn't notice her! How stupid of them! She tried not to laugh in triumph, and managed to hold it in until they left the common room.

Taryn burst out laughing. "They didn't notice me!"

She grinned, standing up and walking out of the common room, to see where they were going.

Taryn saw them at the end of the corridor. They were walking, walking, walking… and then were gone, and she was pretty sure that they didn't just turn a corner.

She ran farther to catch up with where they were. She could hear their footsteps but couldn't see them. _Where did they go?_

Taryn followed the sound of small footsteps walking out of the castle. She stepped into the cold air, and immediately hugged herself. It was a **cold** night.

The footsteps were harder to hear now, but she followed the sight of footsteps on the snow. She hoped they wouldn't see her footsteps.

When Snuffles turned around, she froze, not moving. Maybe he wouldn't see her. It was extremely dark… and he didn't see her!

She kept following them, until the reached the Womping Willow, that tree that had been planted there a few years ago for a reason she did not know. Why were they going to it? And… they were going into it?

She had a bad experience with that tree. It had broken her arm, and she didn't expect to ever get hurt by it again.

Taryn held her breath and followed in 10 seconds after them. They were deep inside already, and through the darkness, she could make out furniture.

Where was she? She sighed, watching them.

"What? Who-" Remus turned around, and then suddenly jumped back. "Taryn! Get out! Now!"

"Why? Where are we, and why are they…"

Remus turned around. He howled.

Taryn blinked. "Remus…"

He turned back around. His face was covered with gray hair and so were his hands.

Taryn stood there, watching him turn into a werewolf.

….

Lily woke up at the sound of a howl in the far distance. She looked over at Taryn's bed and saw she wasn't there. "Bloody h-" She ran out of the dormitory and then out of the common room. Where was Professor Dumbledore? She needed to tell him right away that Taryn was in danger….

"Dumbledore!" She whispered loudly, knocking on the door of his office.

"Miss Evans, what is wrong?" Dumbledore opened the door.

"Taryn… werewolf… NOW!"

….

Taryn screamed, watching Remus look at her with an angry, inhuman, werewolf look on his werewolf face. She didn't say a word, and was too scared to run away.

"Taryn!" called Sirius' voice. "Move back slowly…"

How had Sirius gotten there without her noticing? She moved back… and then the werewolf in front of her let out another howl and tackled her to the ground. No…

Before she even had time to realize what happened, she could see Sirius turn into Snuffles and push Remus away from her.

Taryn was breathing very quickly and was watching everything and trying her best to not faint of sleepiness, shock and just too many thoughts in her mind at once. She watched them wrestle, still not really getting what was happening. She was of course, seeing it, and knowing _what_ was happening but not really **what** and why. Get it? If you don't know, that's only a hundredth as confused as Taryn was.

Eventually, Sirius was tossed aside to the corner of the room, and Remus was running upstairs. Taryn ran over to Sirius, who was slowly turning human. "Sirius!"

He didn't answer, but he was still conscience.

"You… you saved me."

He nodded, still not saying anything.

"You… saved me." She repeated.

He was still silent.

He wanted something, and was just sitting there and waiting for it. And suddenly Taryn realized what it was. She leaned down and kissed him passionately.

….


	7. When You Can't Face Your Problems

Lily and Dumbledore came running in, right when Taryn's lips met Sirius'. She heard their footsteps and quickly stood up, looking over at them. "He's upstairs!"

Dumbledore ran upstairs while Lily stood there, staring at her.

"What?" Taryn asked.

"You… You kissed Black!"

"So what if I did? He saved me! He got hurt saving me, Lily. He _cares_ about me. And why should I hate him just because of who he's friends with?"

"Do you even remember why you hate him?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because… umm…"

"Because he has a stupid, easy life and he has another girl friend every week, and he has most likely broken the school record of the most times someone has made a girl break the rule of going up to the boys dorm…" Lily paused to glare at Sirius before looking back at Taryn. "And getting her to sleep there."

"He does not have an easy life. I figured that out myself. And as for the other reason…." Taryn looked at Sirius. "Was I wrong about you my whole life?"

He shrugged. "Half wrong. I have another girlfriend every _two_ weeks and I never plan it out that way, and I have not broken the record."

"He's come close." Muttered James, who walked up to them.

Lily sighed. "And he's half as big headed as Potter, and that's saying something."

Taryn sighed. "Are you sure about that?"

"Of course. You've been telling me about how Sirius is so-"

"No, Lily. About the Potter part. He really does like you. Think about it."

Lily stormed out of the room and out to the Hogwarts grounds.

James looked at Taryn. "Thanks for saying that to Evans."

Taryn punched his arm as hard as she could, and intended it to hurt badly. She looked over at Sirius and smiled. "See you later." She smiled. "I need to go take a shower and go to sleep."

"Can I come?" Sirius asked jokingly, grinning.

"No, you perv." She smiled more and ran out.

….

What happened last night? Did I end up telling Black that I liked him…? And that I was willing to go out with him if he asked? What if he expects me to say yes if he asks me out?

'_Cause I still hate him, and I know that. I was only half-awake last night, and I was so shocked._

_This is honestly the most annoying moment of my life. What do I do? What do I do? If I tell Sirius the truth, then… well if I hate him, then I won't care how he reacts, right? Right._

_Now I have to worry about Lily. She's going to hate me for at least most of today, and maybe then she'll listen._

_But for now, I have to get to the Hospital Wing. Remus hurt me and I didn't even realize it._

Taryn walked into the Hospital Wing and looked around for Madam Pomfrey. She wasn't there, so she just sat down on a bed and pulled the curtains around so she wouldn't have to see… well she really couldn't finish that sentence.

"Taryn…"

"The past week NEVER happened, Black. None of it. None of it at all."

He pulled the curtains away so she could see the scratches all over his face, the scar on his right arm and all the other things that showed how hurt he got.

"I don't care Sirius Black. I hate you. You lied."

….

Taryn spent the next few days in the Hospital Wing. She really didn't feel hurt, but never wanted to go back to classes and see everyone. She stayed even after Sirius left, and he was way more hurt then her.

"You have to leave!" said Madam Pomfrey, but Taryn kept saying that her stomach hurt like hell.

Eventually, Madam Pomfrey grabbed Taryn's arm and started to drag her out of the Hospital Wing. "You can't take me out of here!" screamed Taryn.

"Yes I can."

Taryn thought quickly. What was something that Madam Pomfrey would actually believe? She suddenly had an idea. "Gee, Madam, I think I'm pregnant."

Madam Pomfrey let go of Taryn's arm. "You think you're pregnant?"

"Yes." Taryn nodded.

"Who… When… Why…"

So, who should she pretend was the father? Can't be Black. No way. Maybe she could say it was Alex… But then he would probably get kicked out of the head boy position… But he deserved it! No he didn't… Yes! No! Yes! No! YES!

"It's… Alex, the head boy…. And it was earlier this week. On Monday… And because." Taryn said. She sat down on the bed and smiled brightly. Not only did she get to stay in the Hospital Wing, but she also got to make Madam Pomfrey freak out. She deserved it!

"I… I must inform the headmaster!"

"But… you can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because I want it to be a secret." Taryn said quietly.

"Well…."

"Thank you!"

"Well I should tell Mr. Potter you won't be at the Quidditch game…"

Oh no! She totally forgot! There was a Quidditch game in two days! "No! I'm not pregnant!"

"Don't just say that so you could play."

"But I'm really not. I lied!"

Madam Pomfrey wasn't convinced.

Taryn sighed. "But… I'll go tell Potter I might not be at the game."

She sighed, running out of the Hospital Wing, and out to the Quidditch field, where she was sure Potter was.

And he was. "We need to talk, Potter."

"'bout what?'

"I can't be in the game."

"Why not?"

"Cause I'm pregnant."

"You are!"

"No I'm not, Potter. But Madam Pomfrey says I am."

"Why would she think that? You don't even have a boy friend."

"Cause I told her I was so I could stay in the Hospital Wing. And now… now she won't believe that I'm not."

"But you need to play in the game! I can't get a decent beater on such short notice!"

"I guess we can try to convince her…"

"Come on!"

They ran down to the Hospital Wing. "She's not pregnant, Madam. She isn't. She isn't. She isn't. Taryn doesn't even have a boy friend, and she was in her dorm on Sunday night." James screamed.

"No I wasn't." she muttered.

"Where were you?"

"You know where I was. I was in the common room half the night, and outside the castle, in the Womping Willow the other half."

"Well you weren't in his dorm, so there you go." James said.

"And, you have no proof that I'm pregnant, and there's no way you could get proof Madam, because **I'M NOT PREGNANT**." Taryn said.

"Well…. Okay. You can go to the game!"

….

_I hated that chapter. I wrote it months ago and if I change it, I'll have to change the whole story, so… Well, please review. And just in case you haven't noticed, somewhere in that list of my fanfictions is 'Notice Me.' Out of my 4 fanfictions, that's my favorite!_


	8. The Start Arrising

….

Sirius was walking by when James and Taryn were talking. He caught the words 'I'm pregnant.' And 'You are?' and then walked away pretty instantaneously.

Was Taryn really pregnant? That was impossible. **Impossible**… Or maybe it was just horrible? Maybe...

He ran up to the Gryffindor tower and into the common room. He found Lily. "Evans! Did you know that Taryn is pregnant?"

"She can't be." Lily yawned. She had slept late and just woke up a few minutes ago.

"How would you know?" Sirius asked her.

"Because I'm her best friend and I know ten times more about her than you do."

"But… Just ask her, please? And then tell me."

"Sure, Black. But then you'll owe me a favor."

"Deal."

….

Taryn and James walked into the common room, discussing Quidditch strategies. "I think that the first chaser should-" started Taryn but then was dragged up to the girls' dorm by Lily.

"Why were you talking to Potter?"

"Because I want Gryffindor to win the game." Taryn said coolly, sitting down on her bed.

"Okay then… Are you pregnant?"

"Are you crazy!"

"Sirius said that you are…"

"Well I told Madam Pomfrey that I might be, but…. I then convinced her that I wasn't. Because I'm not. I just wanted to stay in the Hospital Wing."

"Then you better go tell Black before he tells anyone else."

Taryn stormed down into the common room, then straight up to the boys' dorm. "Black, I am not pregnant!"

"Really!" He smiled.

"Yeah." She glared at him. "Why are you so happy?"

"Because you're not pregnant!"

"But you hate me, and you would be happy if I had to go threw the rest of school with a child…"

"But I don't want your life to be ruined anymore than you want mine to be ruined."

Taryn sighed. "True…" She sighed, sitting down cross-legged on a desk.

"Yeah."

"Black, you lied to me!" she screamed suddenly.

"When did I lie to you?"

"You were… you _are_ Snuffles!"

"No!…. Well yeah, but I swear I didn't mean to hear all your secrets. You just… told them to me!"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because…"

"Because why?"

"Because I thought that maybe…. Maybe if I listened enough then maybe…" He stopped.

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe…."

"Maybe what?" She jumped off the desk and onto him, clenching her fist in front of his face to show that he better tell her.

He pushed her off of him and sat up. "I thought that maybe if I listened enough then I would understand you better and somehow get you to not hate me…"

"So is this what it was all about? All the kisses… All the things you said…"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah."

Taryn sighed slightly. She looked down at her hands, then back up at Sirius. "Black…"

"Yeah?"

"I like you too." She smiled and kissed his lips.

Sirius kissed her back. "So you don't hate me anymore?"

"No, I still hate you, but I like you."

"That's good enough for me." He pulled her back down on top of him and started kissing her. When she didn't push him away, he stopped. "You were serious, weren't you?"

Taryn nodded. "Duh." She grinned. "Now, keep kissing me, Black."

….

And that was how she went from that one popular girl, to that girl that kisses Sirius Black between classes and can still say that she's not his girl, and she hates him. Of course, she knew that girls adored him, but it never occurred to her that some girls would go to lengths to torture any girl who kissed him…

"Hey Summers, look up!" called someone.

Taryn looked up confusedly, and a cup of pudding fell on her face, and made her eyes sting. She growled angrily and looked around for any snickering girls who looked like they might've been responsible for the trick.

There were two 5th year girls laughing at her, and she instantly knew it was they who set up the whole pudding trick. Taryn stomped over to them, her fists clenched very tightly. "Which one of you did it?" She asked angrily.

A girl with dark blonde, braided hair raised her hand, grinning. "Me."

Taryn tackled her to the ground and began to punch her until a professor walked over and dragged her away from the girl, who now had a petrified look on her face.

After that event, only the more brave girls dared to annoy her.

….

_A/N:_

_That was a short chapter. I didn't like this one either… Please review and once again I'll ask you to read 'Notice Me'. Sorry if I sound desperate but I really think that it's a good story and deserves to be read! And sorry if it takes me long to put up these chapters but I've spent most of the past week at school because our play really needed a lot of work. It turned out excellent though so…. I'm really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really sorry if you didn't like this chapter! And by the way, have you seen the cover for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince? It's bloody excellent! And green! I LOVE green…. And just for your information, I'll probably put up another chapter in about five hours!_


	9. When You Play Quidditch For Potter

….

"I have detention today after the Quidditch game." Taryn said to Sirius as she continued to paint her nails with red or orange nail polish and gold glitter.

They were in the common room. It was 5 AM in the morning. Sirius had woken up Taryn. He claimed James needed some Quidditch help but once Taryn was in the common room, he had confessed that he just wanted to see her face, that he was dreaming about her and wanted to see her for real, where she looked way more beautiful.

"What'd you do, babe?"

"Something." She grinned, putting down the nail polish and grabbed her wand to make a drying spell on her wet nails.

"Yeah." Sirius grinned, twirling a strand of Taryn's long hair on his finger.

"Black, I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"I know I told you already that I don't want to be your girl friend, and that I still hate you but… Doesn't it seem like we're going out?"

"Of course not…."

Taryn raised an eyebrow. "Yes it does."

"What do you suppose we do about it?"

"We can only kiss on special occasions then…"

"Or you can just be my girlfriend…"

"No way Black." She grinned.

"Fine then." He sighed.

….

"And don't forget to try as hard as you can. Work 110! And try not to faint if you get hit by a bludger at full force!" James said to the team. It was 3 minutes before the game.

"Are you serious?" asked one of the chasers.

"He is." Muttered Taryn as she tied her left shoe.

"Wow…"

James ignored their comments and said. "Good luck." He ruffled his hair.

Taryn grabbed her broom and beater bat, then followed the team onto the Quidditch field. The game started and they flew up into the air.

The stupid Ravenclaw beater kept hitting the bludger in her direction and she had to waste her time dodging the stupid thing. "Summers, a bludger just hit Johnson. WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING OUT FOR BLUDGERS?" Called Potter.

Taryn grunted, flying over to the other bludger and hitting it away just before it hit the chaser. She smiled and sighed in accomplishment, and kept looking around for bludgers.

She heard a bludger coming up from behind her and she leaned down, letting it fly right over her back.

Taryn leaned back up, and then the other bludger hit her back, and she passed out….

"WHY DID YOU FAINT?" Potter screamed at her.

"We won didn't we?" Taryn asked.

"Yeah, but only by 10 points! You may have costed us the cup!"

"Well I ain't my fault! The stupid Ravenclaw beater kept trying to get me hit!"

"You should've tried to dodge the bloody things!"

"I tried…" Taryn muttered, closing her eyes and falling back on the bed, listening to Madam Pomfrey scolding Potter for disturbing the peace in the Hospital Wing.

….

Since she spent the afternoon in the Hospital Wing, she was excused from detention. She slowly walked into the common room, looking around for someone remotely interesting. A few first years were playing chess, and a 7th year was beating up a 3rd year girl. Nothing new at all.

Then she noticed Sirius sleeping on the couch. She walked over and poked his left shoulder. He jumped up and grabbed her arms, frightening her slightly. "Don't scare me like that Black. Never pretend to sleep again." She said quietly as he hugged her tightly.

"Sorry babe. I saw you get hurt. You okay now?"

"Yeah." Smiled Taryn. She sat in his lap and looked up at him. "Very okay."

"Good… I'm bored." Sirius sighed.

"Hi Bored. I'm Taryn."

Sirius laughed. "And I'm tired too."

"Then go to sleep."

"But…"

"But what?"

"I don't want to leave you alone."

"I won't be alone."

"But then I'll be alone." He said, making a puppy dog face. He was good at that, probably because he's actually _been_ a dog before.

"Okay, okay, okay, I'll come with you, Black."

She followed him up to his dormitory and smiled at him. Sirius climbed into his bed and Taryn laid down next to him. He held her close in his arms, smelling her greatly scented hair. "Good night Taryn." He whispered.

"Good night Sirius."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

….

She woke up early the next morning, and turned around to look at Sirius. He was still asleep, and she knew he wasn't just pretending.

Taryn kissed his lips, then crawled out of his bed and out into the common room. She suddenly ran back up to his dorm and kissed his lips one more time. It was a long kiss and as she walked back down into the common room, she was surprised that he didn't wake up. Taryn laid down on the couch and went back to sleep….

Sirius woke up later that morning and sat up. When he noticed that Taryn wasn't there, he walked down into the common room and saw her asleep there. He wondered why she had left….

After failing to wake her up, Sirius walked back up to his dormitory.

Lily was the one who succeeded in waking up Taryn. She came down into the common room 10 minutes later and asked her why she was suddenly hanging out with Black so often.

Without opening her eyes, Taryn said, "Because I love him."

"Why?"

"Because he treats me better than any other girl he's dated. Because he says I'm beautiful whenever I'm uglier than usual. Because even though I've drilled the idea of hating him into my mind, I can say I love him and I don't have any doubt in my body."

"Well… Don't you ever worry that he might be acting?"

Taryn smiled, her eyes still closed. "You make it sound like I've loved him for years."

"Just answer my question. Yes or no?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I know he cares." Taryn rolled over so Lily was facing the back of her head.

….


	10. The Clenched Fists And A Near Miss

….

Taryn sighed, tapping her fingers on the table. "Sirius, do you love me?" She asked quietly.

Sirius hugged her, then kissed her lips. "Of course, Summers. I've told you that dozens of times before."

"I know…." Taryn sighed again, eating a spoonful of her vanilla pudding that Sirius had brought her from the kitchens.

"Something wrong?" Sirius asked her gently.

"No." She said quietly, looking down at the floor. "I'm just in a bad mood."

"Any reason for that bad mood?"

"Not really…" Taryn left her sitting position and lay down on his lap.

"Mind if I try to guess?" He asked.

"No."

"Okay… Does it have anything to do with you?"

"Duh." She rolled her eyes.

"Does it have anything to do with a guy?"

"Er… yeah."

"An extremely good looking guy with the best hair in the whole school and the best…"

Taryn interrupted. "No, but it is about a guy with an inflated ego."

"You really think my ego's inflated?"

"No, not really. You just have a huge ego. If it was inflated, it would be thousands of square meters big."

"Very funny."

"I know." She smiled slightly.

"So will you just tell me?" Sirius asked before kissing her lips for a few seconds.

"Well…" Taryn sighed before telling him about the conversation with Lily that she had had.

_Lily was the one who succeeded in waking up Taryn. She came down into the common room 10 minutes later and asked her why she was suddenly hanging out with Black so often._

_Without opening her eyes, Taryn said, "Because I love him."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because he treats me better than any other girl he's dated. Because he says I'm beautiful whenever I'm uglier than usual. Because even though I've drilled the idea of hating him into my mind, I can say I love him and I don't have any doubt in my body."_

"_Well… Don't you ever worry that he might be acting?"_

_Taryn smiled, her eyes still closed. "You make it sound like I've loved him for years."_

"_Just answer my question. Yes or no?"_

"_No."_

"_Why not?"_

"_Because I know he cares." Taryn rolled over so Lily was facing the back of her head****_

"Oh." Said Sirius. "So you were so sure yesterday, but now you're wondering whether or not Evans is, right?"

Taryn nodded. "Don't hate me."

"I'd never hate you." Sirius hugged her tightly, not letting go. "You know how Evans is. She's paranoid."

"No she's not." Taryn said.

"Yeah she is. She worries about everything."

"Well, I guess…"

"Taryn!" Taryn turned around and saw Lily. "Oh, hi Lily."

"I do not worry about everything!"

"No, but Sirius does have a point-"

"Taryn, can I talk to you, _alone_?" Lily asked, glancing at Sirius, who was watching the two with interest.

"Okay." Taryn uttered reluctantly and followed her up to the girls' dormitory.

As Taryn sat down on her bed, Lily started talking again. "Ever since you met Sirius, you've hated him, Taryn and now you suddenly love him. You've always hated every thing about him, but now all those things that used to annoy you, you actually like and you're okay with. You used to be so tough and you used to be independent, but now look at you! Your life revolves around one person: Sirius Black! You've forgotten about everybody else but him! And may I remind you that Sirius's best friend is _James Potter_."

"So? I'm with Sirius, not James." Taryn said, standing up.

"And like Black is any better than Potter? I bet that in about a week, he'll dump you."

"You used to think that Sirius and I make a good couple."

"So? I was wrong. He's gonna dump you."

"Oh yeah?" Her fists clenched.

"Yeah."

"Why I outta-"

Lily ducked Taryn's fist. "Calm down, Summers!"

"Calm down? I love Sirius and he loves me, and you're trying to ruin that just because you don't him. Listen to yourself!"

"No, you listen to yourself."

"I am listening, and I believe what I hear. So would you leave me alone for once? Sirius was right! You do worry about everything." Taryn said before running out of the dormitory

….

"Lily's mad at me." Taryn said to him as she sat in his dorm, staring at her homework.

"Because of me?"

"Yeah…" She said quietly.

"I'm sorry babe." He kissed her lips softly.

"It's okay. It's not your fault that I like you."

"Yes it is, because if I had never been in love with you, then you would still hate me right now."

"True… But you mustn't blame yourself." Taryn said in a rather depressed voice.

His attempt to cheer her up wasn't working. "And you mustn't blame yourself either."

"But it's _my_ fault! Everything she said was true!"

"Even that I'm a rat?"

"Yes, you are a rat." She smiled slightly. "You are my beloved rat."

He sighed. Now she was making _him_ sad! "I can't stand to see you all sad like this, Taryn."

"I can't either, but I have to do my homework. It's due tomorrow." Taryn stared at the book. The words seemed all blurry. She didn't want to read them, and she actually couldn't now. She knew she would get in trouble if she missed another homework but… she squinted her eyes and read the first sentence. 'The Ehz Rune is the most complex out of all of the many…' It was so wrong. Doing homework seemed so pointless and she felt sick just thinking about the long essay that she had to write. 500 words… Impossible. How could she write 500 words about a chapter that's only 300 words long? She stared at the words. They made her head hurt. They made her dizzy. Why did she ever decide to take Ancient Runes? "Sirius…" She looked up at him. He looked all blurry; everything looked all blurry. "Oh Merlin." She fainted.

….

A/N:  
To reply to a review by Pixi55: They do terrible things to each other? I never realized that. Are you talking about the green skin thing? Oh, Sirius likes to prank everyone and Taryn is no difference. Or maybe you're talking about him turning into a dog and letting himself hear all her secrets. Well, believe it or not, he never really did it just to hear her secrets, but since she was talking about him, he decided not to walk away all those times. And the reason they never say sorry is because they never had a chance to, but through his actions, Taryn can pretty much tell that Sirius is sorry. And about the matter of it being 'unrealistic', I have no idea what you're talking about. The way they act is pretty much how my friends and me act towards each other. One day, I insult my friend so much that we decide not to talk anymore, but then the next day we act as if it never happened. Bad example, but I'm too tired right now to think of a better example.

To the rest of the readers: I rewrote most of that chapter because I didn't like what I wrote at first. I like it much better this way. I hope you like it too! And I'll end this with 2 messages: "Reviewing takes half a minute, maybe more if it's long!" and "I do not own all this Harry Potter stuff. JK Rowling does."


	11. When Love Is In The Air

Taryn blinked. Her head hurt so much. Why was she in the Hospital Wing? What… What had happened? Had she really fainted from trying to do her homework?

Was Sirius there? She looked around. No he wasn't. Maybe he just had to go somewhere. He probably had detention or something like that…

Had she missed dinner? Taryn sat up and looked at the clock. She had missed most of it; it would end soon. That was probably where Sirius was.

She still felt sick. Why, oh why did she have to get sick? She hated being sick, probably more than many people. She always left the Hospital Wing when she was still sick, and then ended up sitting in her dormitory, staring at the same four walls with no thoughts in her mind at all.

Taryn laughed. It was all so stupid that it was funny! So **_stupid_**! She suddenly depended on Sirius to always be there, to help her, to love her when everyone else hated her. She suddenly spent most of her day with Sirius and the rest alone. Her life had suddenly turned into practically the same thing as Sirius' life.

There wasn't much bad about spending her day with Sirius. She obviously loved him and felt good whenever she was around him. He made her laugh, he made her smile and he made her feel like she belonged.

But she always had belonged. It was never such a big deal. She was always unique and everyone liked her for that, and that was how she belonged.

Now she belonged differently. Now she belonged because she was just like everyone else, and she wasn't sure that that was good. Actually, she was pretty sure that it was bad.

She was just like all those girls who get asked out by Sirius and then give up their whole life to spend all their time with him, so they could keep him…

But Sirius really loved her right? And she didn't have to try to get him to stay with him, so why did she change her whole life for him. She had thought that she would've been willing to give up her life to make him happy, but she never thought she would need to.

But she started thinking, and she realized she had given her life already, just to be with him, and she wasn't happy anymore. She had given up her happiness, her freedom…. And her best friend.

Lily no longer talked to her anymore, ever since that morning. She had given up Lily, the first person to ever be her friend. Lily was the one who always gave her advice…

Who would help her when she had some problem with Sirius? Who would give her chocolate, rainbow sprinkle cupcakes and tell her that everything was okay, and cheer her up? Sirius could, but there were some things that Sirius didn't understand at all… Like the complex mind of a teenaged girl.

She heard the door open and ignored it. If it was Sirius, he would probably come up behind her and hug her, then start kissing her, not caring that he could catch whatever sickness she had. If it was anyone else, then she didn't care at all.

"Hey Taryn." Said a girl's voice. She couldn't tell who it was, but it certainly wasn't Sirius.

Taryn didn't say anything. She looked down at the floor.

"Taryn…" The girl sat down next to her and also looked down at the floor.

Taryn saw red hair in the corner of her eyes. It was Lily.

At the same time the girls turned to look at each other and said, "I'm so sorry!"

"Everything you said was true!" Lily said.

"No, everything _you_ said was true!"

"I shouldn't have judged Sirius like that. I didn't even know him as much as I thought I did."

"I should've spent more time with you and less with Sirius!"

They hugged each other. "I missed you Lily." Taryn said.

"I missed you too."

"Best friends forever?"

"Yeah. Best friends forever."

….

"When'd you paint your nails?" asked Lily, looking at Taryn's Gryffindor colored nails. They were in their dormitory and Taryn didn't feel sick at all anymore.

"The day of the Quidditch game. I wanted to show some team spirit!"

Lily laughed. "Awesome."

"Yeah." Taryn smiled. "Have you done any homework yet?"

"Yeah. All done."

"Can I copy it?"

"No way, Taryn."

"But homework is why I got sick. I was in the boys' dormitory, staring at the paper, and I suddenly felt sick."

Lily smiled. "Guess what tomorrow is."

"What?"

"Valentine's Day." Lily grinned.

"Ugh. I hate that day. It's so… pink." She made a disgusted face.

Lily laughed. "I'm going on a date that night."

"Ooh. Potter's going to be so jealous."

"Which is why I said yes to Remus."

"Remus? Remus LUPIN?"

Lily nodded. "Yeah."

"Oi! Potter's going to kill him."

"I know." Lily laughed. "It will be rather fun to watch, as long as Remus doesn't get too hurt."

"Yeah."

….

Taryn slept pretty well that night. She barely even thought about Sirius…

She woke up the next morning and got ready for Valentine's Day. They still had classes, and she still had homework, but she really didn't care. Sirius probably prepared some sort of surprise for her, and she was eager to find out how Lily's date with Remus would turn out. Maybe she would get a boyfriend!

It was all so perfect now. She had the perfect balance between Lily and Sirius. She made sure that whenever Lily was busy, she would be with Sirius, and she would be with Lily whenever she wasn't busy. It was perfect, and Sirius perfectly understood that she couldn't spend her whole day with him. He actually seemed pretty happy that he had time to cause trouble with Remus, James and Peter again, like he used to before he and Taryn started dating.

"Hey Sirius." Taryn said that morning when she walked down to the common room.

"Hey babe."

"Happy Valentine's Day." She kissed his lips.

"Same to you." He handed her a box wrapped in pink and red wrapping paper. "Open it later, okay?"

"Sure." She smiled. "I love you Sirius."

"I love you too."

Taryn walked out of the common room and started heading toward breakfast.

She opened the box after all her classes were finished. Inside were two smaller boxes, each individually wrapped in different colored wrapping paper. There was a note as well.

My dear Taryn- 

The blue box is for you. Happy Valentine's Day. I love you so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much!

_The green box is for Lily. It's from James. Please give it to her, but don't tell her whom it's from._

_Looooooove,_

_Sirius_

Taryn smiled and started to slowly open the blue box. Inside was a pair of red earrings that lighted up. They were shaped like lions.

She put on the earrings and began to look for Lily. Where could she be?

Oh. She suddenly remembered that she had a date with Remus, so she went up to their dormitory and left the box on her bed.

When she walked back down into the common room, one girl told her that she loved the earrings and one girl said that she had seen them in a store one time and they costed 50 galleons. ((Note to American readers- 50 galleons is about 241 US dollars.)) Sirius had actually spent that much money on her. Wow!

Sirius really loved her… She would've never believed that if she had told herself that a few weeks ago.

If Sirius really had the ability to change a stubborn mind like hers, then she was really glad that she had given a chance.

Her relationship with Sirius was a short one, but so far she had enjoyed every single second of it….

She got all that, and she still got to be best friends with Lily.

**THE END… OF THIS CHAPTER**

Okay, so this was going to be the end of the story, but I kept writing this to keep my out of writer's block for another story, and it actually seemed pretty good, so there'll be a few more chapters. Just to warn you, after the first part of the next chapter, it skips over a year and a half of time, and so much happens in that time that I skip, but don't worry, I'll explain it… And sorry it took so long! I've been having a bad month, and a lot of school field trips to get ready for, including one out of state for two days, so… Bye!

_Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns all this Harry Potter, Marauder and Hogwarts stuff…_


	12. The Sound Of Wedding Bells

After Lily's Date with Remus J. Lupin 

Lily walked into her dormitory. Taryn wasn't there, so she supposed that she was sleeping in Sirius' dormitory that night.

The lights were off already but she didn't turn them on because Josie and Clara were already sleeping. She sat down on her bed, and then noticed a small box lying on her pillow.

As she picked it up, she noticed it had her name on it but it didn't say whom it was from. She slowly removed the wrapping paper and opened the box inside. "Wow." She said when she saw that someone had bought her the hair pin that she had seen in the store.

There was a note attached to it. The note said:

'I love you, Lily. I bought the pin for you because I knew you wanted it. It's emerald green, just like your beautiful eyes. Whenever I see them, I just want to stare at you all day. I love you so much and I can't picture you with anyone else but me. I want you to give me a chance. I **need** you to give me a chance. Please, Lily Evans, will you be my girl friend?'

Lily smiled and said to herself "If I knew who you were, then I would definitely be your girl friend."

She put the pin back into the box and put the box down on her desk. "I wish I knew who you were…"

O0o0O

So that was the story of Taryn and Sirius, but even though there has been a 'the end' already, the story did not end at that point at all. Taryn and Sirius continued to date, but during that summer, they broke up because of a cruel prank played by Regulus Black, Sirius's brother. They didn't find out that it was just a trick until the middle of their seventh year of Hogwarts, but they had already grown apart, but they had had to still be friends because Sirius's best friend and Taryn's best friend started dating….

"Hey, Prongs. Where do you think I'd be right now if Regulus never played that trick on me and Taryn?"

"You'd be here, but it would be a _double_ wedding." James answered as he attempted to comb his messy hair straight for his wedding.

"You know, I thought _I'd_ be the first one to get married."

"So did I." James said, giving up and throwing the comb on the floor.

"Still, I'm happy for you, mate."

Meanwhile…

"Hey, Lily, do you think that if Sirius's brother had never played that prank, I'd be marrying Sirius right now?"

"Probably, but it'd be best not to think about it, Taryn."

"Yeah…"

"Lily Potter… It's got a ring to it, doesn't it?"

O0o0O

And that was still not the end either…

_Ever since the day you went away _

And left me lonely and cold 

_My life just hasn't been the same _

_Oh baby no _

_When I looked into your eyes _

_The moment that I let you go I just broke down_

Taryn smiled brightly, watching Lily and James fly away on James's broom, the words 'Just Married' hanging on the back of the broom. When they got so far away that they were just a dot, she stood up and started to walk towards the parking lot, but stopped when she saw someone sitting on a bench, staring down at his hands. She walked over and sat down next to him. "Hey Sirius." She said quietly.

Sirius looked up at her and smiled. "Hey Taryn."

They were still just friends… Baby if I ever get the chance to be with you again I would sacrifice 

_'Cause the feelin that I feel within no other man _

Would ever make me feel so right

_It's nice to smile when I get your phone call at night _

_But I'd rather have you here with me _

_Right next to me _

_And I miss the way you hold me tight_

"What's up?"

"Our best friends."

Taryn smiled, looking out into the distance. Lily and James were now just a smaller dot in the sky. "They're meant to be."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah…"

They were joined together by the relationship of our best friends, and nothing more… 

_I've got to let you know I feel so weak without your touch _

I never thought that I could ever love a man so much 

_I've gotta let you know I think that we are destiny _

_For you I'd cross the world _

For you I'd do anything

"I cried…" She said, looking down at the floor.

"At the wedding? Yeah, Moony did too."

"No, not at the wedding but… When we found out that it was just a prank." She looked up at Sirius.

"Oh… Wow."

"I… I cry a lot now, when I'm wondering whether or not we would still be together, and in love."

_That's right baby _

I'm goin' crazy 

_I need to be your lady _

_I've been thinking lately _

_That you and me, yes we can make it _

_Just ride with me, roll with me _

_I'm in love with you_

"Yeah… Would've been a double wedding."

Taryn smiled, looking up at the sky to stop tears from coming out of her eyes. "Do you still love me?"

"Taryn…." He paused. "The magic's gone. There's nothing we can do."

_Break it down now I'll tell you what I feel _

_From the moment that I met you it's been so damn real _

_My heart seems to skip another beat every time we speak _

_Can't believe I feel so weak _

_Tell me that you really need me _

And you want me 

_And you miss me _

_And you love me _

_I'm your lady _

_I'll be around waiting for you _

_Put it down be the woman for you _

_I'm falling so deep for you _

_Crazy over you I'm calling _

_Callin' out to you _

_What am I gonna do? _

_It's true no frontin' _

_It's you ain't no other _

_I can no longer go on without you _

_I'll just break down _

Taryn blinked and all the tears that had been building up in her eyes fell out, turning her eyes red. "We can start over. We managed to turn hate into love, remember? It can't be harder to turn like into love, can it?"

"Taryn, there's barely a difference between love and hate, but like and love… those are two totally different things."

_I've got to let you know I feel so weak without your touch _

_I never thought that I could ever love a man so much _

_I've gotta let you know I think that we are destiny _

_For you I'd cross the world _

_For you I'd do anything_

"But Sirius… Can it really be so hard if we used to be so close? Remember how much we used to love each other? I can remember every second that I was with you, every precious moment, and I almost die."

"Die… You love me…"

Taryn nodded before standing up. "And I actually almost wish you love me too." She walked away, without saying another word.

_That's right baby _

_I'm goin' crazy _

_I need to be your lady _

_I've been thinking lately _

_That you and me, yes we can make it _

_Just ride with me, roll with me _

_I'm in love with you _

_Baby…_

_Ooh…_

Crazy… 

_Lady…_

_Lately…_

_Baby…_

O0o0O

I don't own Sirius, Hogwarts, Lily, James, Remus, Peter, etc…. And I don't own the song either. It's "Goin' Crazy" by Natalie.

You know what's really pathetic, guys? I've got a new imaginary friend and his name is Sirius Black. Honestly, if my friends weren't Harry Potter fans, somebody would actually think I know a guy named Sirius Black! Pathetic, right?

I love y'all and I hope you review, because it doesn't take that long, right?


	13. When Two Magnets Are Separated

O0o0O

"So, Lily _Potter_, where is James taking you on your honeymoon?"

"Hawaii." Lily smiled.

Taryn smiled back at Lily's face in the fire as she heard James calling to her in the background. "Sweetheart, how long does it take you to change out of your wedding dress? Don't make me come in there! Are you decent?" She heard James shout.

"No!" Lily said, though Taryn knew that she was already dressed.

"Well I don't care, I'm coming in!" James said.

Taryn snickered. "Bye Lily."

"Bye Taryn." Lily said with a blush before disappearing from the fire.

Taryn sighed, standing up and walking over to her bed. She lay down on her side to face the closest wall.

She wondered why all her feelings for him had came back so suddenly, when she had usually been so fine with being just friends? Sighing, she stood up and walked over to the phone. She had to call somebody, and she had to talk to them. She strained her memory, trying to remember a phone number… Not Sirius's. He didn't have a phone. Not Lily's. She hadn't had a phone since she lived with her muggle parents…

Taryn picked up the phone and started to dial Remus's phone number, but in the middle of dialing, she slammed the phone down, realizing that Remus would tell everything she said to Sirius.

Right after she put the phone down, it started to ring. "Hello?" She asked after picking it up.

"Hey, Taryn?"

She recognized Sirius's number and smiled. She couldn't get mad at him. "Hey. How'd you get my number? Who's phone are you using?"

"Remus's. And he knows your number."

"Oh… So what's up?"

"Well I was thinking about what you had said and… I'll give us another chance."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Er… One minute." She hung up the phone and ran over to the door. She put her shoes on and ran out the door, running down the street, turning right, then running down a much longer street, then turning left and running down a short street, then turning left again and crossing a big road, then turning right and running down another long road until she reached a white house.

When she knocked on the door, she saw Remus. "Hey. Sirius there?"

"No… Just kidding. Yeah, he is. He's in the bathroom, changing out of his best man clothes. Come in."

"No thanks. I want to talk to him out here."

"But Taryn, you're wearing a dress."

Taryn looked down at her green dress. "Oh well. It's warm out."

"Okay then. He'll be right out."

Taryn nodded and Remus closed the door. She sat down on the steps to the door and patiently looked at the street in front of the house. No cars were passing by, because it was a warm summer day, and most everybody was walking to where they wanted to go.

After about a minute of waiting, the door opened and Sirius came out, wearing a lime green tee shirt and a pair of old, dark blue jeans. "Hey babe." He sat down next to her and leaned over to kiss her, but Taryn held her hand up and he ended up kissing that instead.

"Sirius, don't think that everything you had said after the wedding today didn't get to me, because it did…"

"And what you said got to me to. You know what that means, right?"

"Yup. We're both very persuasive and stubborn." She sighed. "Sirius, you were right, the magic _is_ gone. And now I think…. Was it ever really there, or was it just an immature 'pretty, popular teen girl dates a hot, popular teen guy, and they say they're in love, but really aren't' relationship?" She paused, then continued. "I'm sorry, Sirius, but I can't start dating you again as if _nothing_ ever happened, because it did. A lot happened."

"But…"

"I think I'd like it if…" Taryn interrupted. "If we were just friends, okay?" She kissed his cheek lightly, then hugged him tightly.

"Friends?" Sirius asked.

Taryn nodded. "Friends."

….

Sirius sighed, opening the door to his house. He had just left Remus and walked all the way home, and was tired.

He walked into his room and lay down under his bed, pulling a mirror out from under his pillow. "James." He said, and almost instantly a different view appeared on the mirror. It was of the ceiling, so he supposed the mirror was facing up.

"James!" He called, hoping James would hear him, and apparently he did and reached over to grab the mirror.

"Padfoot?" James said sleepily. "What's wrong? I'm on my honeymoon with Lily…"

"I think I just got… dumped by _Taryn_."

"Taryn? I thought you didn't like her anymore."

"I didn't. But she liked me, and told me she wanted to get back together, and I didn't want to. But then the things she told me made me like her again, but the things _I_ told _her_ made her not like me again…."

"I see…" James sighed. "Did she say she still wanted to be friends?"

Sirius nodded slowly.

"That means she never wants to talk to you again." James said.

"Oh Merlin. I have to go find her!" Sirius stood up.

"Woah, Padfoot, calm down! It's almost midnight. She's probably sleeping."

"I don't care, Prongs. I have to change her mind before she wakes up in the morning and forgets _everything she ever felt for me_."

"Listen Padfoot, you gotta just listen to your heart, and if it says to go to her and wake her up and make her terribly angry, go, but just try to get to sleep before two, so you won't be sleeping all day, because you've got the Order mission at noon, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Sirius sighed.

"And also, you gotta remember that she lives with her niece, so if you wake her up, Taryn's going to _hurt _you."

"Yeah, she probably would. That girl may be a bloody klutz, may not be the prettiest girl on the street, and may not be as smart as Remus, but she _is_ strong."

"Yup. Remember the time at the end of our sixth year when you came up behind her and hugged her, and she thought you were some Slytherin creep, and kicked you? And you started to tell her who you were but then she slapped you? There was a red hand mark on your face!" James laughed.

"Yeah, yeah. It was _hilarious_." Sirius muttered sarcastically.

O0o0O

Taryn sighed, rolling over onto her stomach and looking down at the black pillow dotted with yellow, white and purple stars, at the Cheshire Cat, grinning, at the words 'Curiouser and curioser….' She couldn't sleep. It was rather hard to stop thinking about what she had said to Sirius earlier that day. _Just friends…._

How hard would it have been to just say 'Sirius, I love you'? She could have just looked him into the eyes and said 'I love you!'

A scream coming from one room over suddenly interrupted her thoughts and Taryn reluctantly walked over to her niece's room.

Lina was standing by the window, watching with both fright and interest. "T-T-T-Tar-TARYN!"

As soon as Taryn saw what was outside the window, she slammed her fist down on the windowsill. "Couldn't the arsehole wait 'til _morning_ to come and bother me?" She said, glaring at the parking flying motorcycle.

Lina's eyes widened. "You said a bad word!"

"Oops." Taryn said quietly. "Well, er… No I didn't. I said 'sauce bowl'!"

"No you didn't!" Lina said.

"Yes I did!" Taryn said before kneeling down to be as low as the seven year old. "Listen, Lina. I have to go talk to my friend, okay? Go back to sleep, please?"

"Is he going to hurt you?"

"No, why would you think that?" Taryn glanced out the window at Sirius, wearing a leather jacket, and taking off his helmet and laying it on the motorcycle. "Oh." She laughed slightly. "No, Lina. I'll be okay. Sirius can't really hurt me that much… Well, at least not physically." Taryn hugged her niece before leaving her to go back to sleep.

Standing by the door and taking one last look at Lina, Taryn said to herself, "He can't break my bones, and he can't make me bleed, but Merlin, that guy sure can hurt me emotionally…"

O0o0O

Sirius took off his helmet and lay it on the motorcycle seat, then walked up to the door and knocked with the old knocker hanging on the door. As soon as a sound was made, a furious Taryn opened the door. "Sirius, you arse! Couldn't wait 'til _morning_? I was _sleeping_!"

Sirius knew that this was a lie, though, because Taryn was still wearing her green bridesmaid dress, and he knew from Lily that Taryn was never too lazy or too tired to change into pajamas. "Wow, somebody's cranky!"

"How many times will I have you fuckin' tell you that I just want to be _friends_?"

"Twice?"

"Okay, Sirius. This is _it_! Be right back!" Taryn walked inside, and came out a few moments later, holding an old piece of paper up to his face. "This is the note I wrote to you in our sixth year, telling you that I loved that kiss you gave me." She ripped it in half. "This is the note that made me stop hating your guts." She tore it into quarters. "Our bloody relationship, our _friendship_ is OVER!" She screamed.

Sirius blinked. "Answer one question."

Taryn, breathing deeply now to calm herself down, replied, "What?"

"What did I do?"

Taryn closed her eyes, apparently trying to remember what exactly Sirius had done that was so bad. When she opened her eyes, she said, "Sirius, I think I just ripped up our friendship because you woke me up at midnight…."

Sirius laughed. "Nice."

Taryn sighed, sitting down on the ground and looking up at Sirius. After a long moment of silence, she said, "You know Sirius, I don't think it would work out at all if we were friends…."

Sirius stared at her. He felt like his heart had just been ripped open. "What? W-why?"

"Because…" She stood up and whispered into his ear. "I want to be more."

O0o0O

Aww, how _nice_. Just in case you haven't noticed, I do not own Harry Potter and all that stuff, so… I hope you liked it, because I enjoyed writing it… Oh Merlin, I sound like my English teacher. It's a sign! I'm going to die… But have no fear, I'll live long enough to finish the fanfiction.


	14. The Secret He Couldn't Tell

O0o0O

I smiled at Sirius, hugging him so tightly, that if I were any stronger, he would have suffocated by the end of the long hug. I didn't want to let him go.

"Well, er…" Sirius said, twisting out of my tight grip. "Bye."

"Bye? Sirius, do you think I'm just going to let you leave after hugging you for four minutes?" Instead of waiting for an answer, I dragged him inside. "I reckon you'll be around here a lot so I'll introduce you to my niece. She's scared of you."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"She woke up to a man in a leather jacket getting off of a _flying_ motorcycle in her front lawn. If I were in her place, I would've been scared too, Sirius." I said, leading him to the left, to Lina's room, where I was sure my niece had disobeyed my orders and wasn't asleep.

I was right. Lina was standing by the window and apparently had been watching Sirius and me. I was glad we didn't kiss or anything, because I wouldn't have wanted Lina to see that. "Lina, this is Sirius." I explained when she turned around to look at us. "Since he's my boy friend, you'll probably be seeing him around a lot. He's sleeping over tonight, but don't worry, he doesn't cause any physically damage." In my mind, I added '_But he can _really_ mess with my head and cause emotional damage at times…._'

"Are you sure?" Lina glanced at Sirius. "He looks mean."

"No, he's really as soft as a marshmallow." I smiled, grabbed Sirius's hand. "Good night, Lina." I shut the light off and closed the door, then looked at Sirius. "So are you sleeping over?" I asked.

"Do you want me to?" He asked.

"Duh."

"Then I'm sleeping over." Sirius picked my chin up and kissed my lips.

O0o0O

"You want sugar, Sirius?" I asked him as I mixed his coffee.

"_How_ long have you known me, Taryn?"

"Seven years." I said as I mixed the sugar in. "But hated you until our sixth year." I handed him the mug of coffee.

Sirius kissed my lips to thank me. "Why _did_ you stop hating me anyway?"

"You cornered me in the common room and kissed me, Sirius. No girl can resist that."

"But you still denied that you liked me, Taryn. You didn't realize I fancied you for a while." He laughed slightly.

I took a sip of my own coffee. "'Cause I was bloody stupid back then…"

"You couldn't have been if you started dating me."

"Took me a few years." I laughed.

Just after Taryn said that, Lina came into the room.

"Good morning, Lina." I greeted my niece.

"Aunt Taryn, can you take me to the mall to buy school clothes?"

"I don't have a car, Lina."

"So? We can walk!"

I groaned. "I'm really tired, Lina. I can't possibly walk to the mall. That's light years away!"

"Taryn, you woke up at ten. That means you had at least nine hours of sleep! What were you doing all night?"

Sirius chuckled into his coffee. "Sleeping, Lina." I told her, glancing over at Sirius.

Lina looked at us suspiciously. "Yeah, right." She turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

Once she was gone, Sirius looked at me. "Smart kid."

I nodded in agreement, walking over to him and sitting down on his lap. "You going anywhere today?"

"Yeah." Sirius said. "Meetin' some people at noon."

"Who? Is it somebody _else_?"

"Yeah. I'm dating twelve other babes right now." Sirius said jokingly.

"Do you want another cup of coffee before you leave?" I asked after a few moments.

"No thanks. I'll probably have more when I get there."

"'Kay." I said, then hugged him goodbye.

O0o0O

"Hey Prongs." Sirius said to James, sitting down in his chair at a meeting for the Order of the Phoenix.

"Hey Padfoot."

"Having fun on your honeymoon?"

"It's only been one day."

"So? That's twenty four hours, or 720 minutes." Sirius said.

"Well then, yes, I have had a lot of fun."

"_Fun?_"

"No, not _fun_ fun. Just fun."

Sirius laughed. "Hah! I beat you to it!"

"You…" James trailed off when Albus Dumbledore walked into the room, and began the meeting.

O0o0O 

"Ooh! Taryn, I want these pants!"

"Sure, Lina. Find some your size, and…"

"And I want this hat!"

"Okay…"

"And I _need_ this Barbie backpack!"

"Sure, and _nothing else._ I already spent a weeks worth of money on you today." Taryn said, bringing the pants, hat and backpack to the cash register and paying for them.

When the two left the store, Lina asked Taryn, "Is that boy, Sirius, a vampire?"

"No, he isn't."

"How do you know?"

Taryn sighed. That day, she had already had to prove why he wasn't a zombie, murderer and dentist. "Because at Hogwarts, I've seen him eat garlic knots plenty of times."

"_Real _garlic knots?"

"Yes, Lina. Real garlic knots."

"Oh. Okay."

Taryn turned right into their front yard and walked into the small, one floor house. "Go put the clothes into your closet. I'll make you a snack."

O0o0O

"Siriuuuuuuus!" Yelled James from across the large room. "DUUUUCK!"

"What? Oh!" Sirius dropped to the floor just in time to dodge the red beam coming out of a Death Eater's wand.

Quickly getting up, he held up his wand. "Stupe-" Sirius stopped mid-spell when Edgar Bones shoved him aside in such a hurry that he fell down on top of him. The two men looked up at the green beam that had just missed Sirius and had hit another Death Eater, leaving the one that had cast the spell as the last one there.

Sirius started to get up to do something about the Death Eater, but Edgar pulled him down, seeing that Gideon Prewett was already taking care of that.

Sirius and Edgar slowly crawled away from them backwards, facing the ceiling. "Bones, I think I broke my arm." Sirius muttered, falling down onto it as Gideon dragged away the Death Eater.

"Ah, that's nothing. Last month, I broke both."

"Yeah I remember."

"You should. It was partly _your_ fault after all."

"Listen, Edgar, I did not mean to trip you. _Snivellus_ pushed me." Sirius said before muttering something about the bad getting worse by the minute.

O0o0O

A day went by and Taryn waited patiently for Sirius to come visit her. After all, she hadn't told him to come back, and didn't expect him to either. Honestly, she wasn't so pathetic, and didn't mind, because she knew that he would want to. He was probably too. She couldn't blame him. She was busy too, with getting Lina ready for school and everything like that.

Lina went to a boarding school that had classes on weekends, but had longer breaks. She started school mid-October and ended it mid-July, which left a three-month break for her, _three months_ for Taryn to have to deal with a nine year old witch all summer, to deal with the occasional slip of magic coming out, to deal with the spark of mischief in her eyes…

Taryn sighed; lying down on the grass, listening to the sound of Only the Good Die Young coming out of the headphones attached to her CD player. "You get a nice white dress and a party on your confirmation…" She sighed, tapping her fingers on the grass to the beat, looking up at the bright sky, the places where the blue met the white of the clouds reminding her of the color of Sirius's eyes. She knew them well, having stared at them for probably a total of two days in her life. She could get lost in them. It was almost as if they were in front of her….

"Sirius?" Taryn sat up.

"You know, babe, you've got the smallest house, but the _biggest_ backyard." Sirius said, looking around.

"Yeah, I know."

"And a pool…"

"Sirius, tell me one reason that I would need a bigger house. After all, it's only Lina and me living there, and you sometimes."

"Me?"

"Yeah, of course. Do you really think I could spend more than two days without you, Black? You gotta admit, you're…" Taryn paused to look at his hair, then eyes, then the rest of his face, then down at his muscles, then back up at said, "Good looking."

"Is that the _only_ reason you like me?"

"Of course not, Sirius. I like you 'cause you're funny, smart, interesting, brave, kind…" Taryn grabbed his shoulders and playfully tackled him to the ground. "Sensitive, understanding…" She stopped, seeing how Sirius had closed his eyes, looking in pain. "You okay, buddy?"

Sirius opened his eyes and nodded slowly. "Yeah, Tar' I'm… fine."

"Are you sure?" Taryn said, crawling off of him.

Sirius nodded again, barely moving his head this time. "Yeah. I'm just tired." He pulled himself up to a sitting position.

"Sirius, I am not going to fall for that big, fat lie." She looked straight into his eyes and she said that quietly, yet seriously. "I am worried sick for you right now, so tell me what the hell is wrong."

Sirius avoided looking at her by burying his face in his hands as he muttered, "I can't."

"Why not?"

Sirius didn't answer. Instead, he just stood up, and pulling her up with him. He began to walk toward the back door to the house.

"Where are you taking me?"

He didn't answer, again. Sirius brought her inside, and into the living room, letting her sit down on the couch, and he sat down next to her. "I love you, Taryn, and you know that. You've known it for so long, and even though I know there's been times were you've questioned it, but I thought you should know, that no matter what, no matter when, no matter where, I'll always love you."

Taryn didn't even blink as she said in a rasping, quiet voice, "How do you know?"

"Because I do. I just know. It's this feeling I get whenever I see you, that… Well, it makes me wish that nothing will ever happen to you, that you'll always be happy and that _we'll_ always be happy, 'cause that's what I've always wanted to be- we, not you and me, but we, us, _both of us_." He was speaking without a bit of uncertainty in his voice. "Listen, Taryn, I would do anything for you. Anything, as long as it's something I know you wouldn't end up regretting, and this secret, is something that would put you in danger if you knew it. Taryn, you have to trust me. Do you trust me?"

After about a minute of silence, Taryn answered. "You should know that I trust you more than I trust myself, that I think of you above myself." Tears came into her eyes. "You are all that keeps me alive right now, Sirius. Lily's on her honeymoon; mum and dad are in Quebec; Lina's a real pain; Rachel is in the hospital; I spent _all_ my money on a nine year old and…" She wrapped her arms around Sirius and sobbed into his shirt.

Rachel was Taryn's sister. Sirius, James, Lily, Remus and Peter all knew that she had been in the hospital for a few months, but none of them liked to mention it, because Taryn had had a close relationship with her sister, and had helped her through many hard times in her life, including her husband's death. This was the reason that she was caring for Lina; there was nobody else to.

Sirius ran his fingers through Taryn's long, dark blonde hair. She was sobbing harder than ever, and it was hard to just sit there and let her cry… It was torture.

O0o0O

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that stuff.

I think I'm done with the story and it's going to have 20 chapters, but I don't know because last time I ended the story, I ended up writing nine more chapters!

Please review…


	15. When You Wake Up Alone

O0o0O 

It was almost midnight and Taryn still hadn't said anything since her rant about everything that was going wrong in her life. "Ready to go to sleep?" Sirius asked as he watched Taryn finish the tea he had made her.

Taryn nodded, putting the cup in the sink and following Sirius to her room. He had already told Lina to go to sleep and read her a story to get her to fall asleep.

Once she and Sirius lay down in bed, Taryn actually spoke. "How long will their honeymoon be?"

"A month."

"A _whole_ month?"

"Thirty days." Sirius told her.

"Thirty days." Taryn sighed, grabbing Sirius's arms and wrapping them around herself.

"Wanna get married?"

"No thanks. Maybe later."

"In a year?"

"Sure." Taryn closed her eyes.

O0o0O

Taryn woke up before Sirius and crawled out of bed. She felt much better after being with him for so long.

She didn't wake him up before walking over to Lina's room and checking if she was still asleep. She wasn't there, so Taryn searched for her in the small living room. "Oh Lina. Where aaarrrreee you?"

Taryn wandered into the kitchen. No, Lina wasn't there either. She sat down on the kitchen table and closed her eyes to picture where her niece could possibly be. _If I were a nine-year-old, where would I be at 7 o'clock?_

She wasn't in her room, or the kitchen, or the living room, so what was left was the bathroom, which she had seen empty on the way to the kitchen and outside… The pool!

Taryn sprinted out of the side door and into the backyard. Much to her surprise, she was wrong, and Lina was not in the pool…

So where was she?

Taryn lay back on the soft, slightly wet morning grass and stared up at the leaves of the tree that she was sitting by.

"That girl better show up soon or I'll die of worry. This is just what…" Taryn opened her mouth to scream as somebody in Death Eater robes grabbed her wrists, but no sound came out. _Stupid silencing charm!_

O0o0O

When I woke up, Taryn wasn't in the room anymore, much to my disappointment. I had had such a good sleep, and planned on just holding her in her arms for the whole morning, nothing more, but I decided that it was too late, and got out of bed.

I buttoned my shirt up before I left the room and went into the living room, where I was expecting to see Taryn watching cartoons. To my surprise, she wasn't lying on the couch, she wasn't sitting cross-legged on the floor, and she wasn't dancing to a theme song, so I decided that she was probably still eating breakfast and I walked to the kitchen.

I really shocked myself at that moment by looking for Taryn everywhere, including in the refrigerator, under the table and inside a box of cereal. Obviously, she wasn't in any of those places, so I decided to go look around for her in the backyard.

The first thing that came into my head when I opened the door was that I shouldn't have slept so long, because of what I saw under the big oak tree- Half a wand and a red, lion-shaped earring.

I ran over to them and instantly recognized them as Taryn's. After all, I _had_ given her the earring for Valentine's Day in their sixth year and Taryn rarely ever took off those earrings. She even wore them after we had broken up.

As I examined the earring closer, I saw that it was still sort of in her ear. _Ouch!_ It must have been ripped off.

I was asking myself where Taryn had gone… Or who took her.

Once I stopped punching the tree, I found that the best thing to do was to get somebody from the Order. I didn't want to bother James or Lily on their honeymoon, and Peter wasn't exactly fit for the job, so I decided to go get Remus for help.

I ran all the way to his house, which was a longer way away than I thought, but Taryn had ran it before, and I supposed I was able to do it too.

I knocked on the door, waited a moment, and walked in. "Moony! Oh Reeeemus!" I yelled, with a hint of impatience in my voice.

"I'm buuuuusy! Go awaaaaaaaaaay!"

"Whyyyyyyyy?"

No answer. "Is a _girl_ up there?"

Still no answer. "I knew it! You got a girl friend!"

Silence. "As much as I'd like to leave you to alone, this is kind of urgent, a life or death situation if you know what I mean!"

At first I was joking about what I had said, but since Remus _still_ wasn't coming downstairs, I was starting to believe that he was actually up there snogging some girl. It was a scary thought.

Luckily, he came downstairs soon after I started to believe my jokes, with a black towel wrapped around his waist, and his hair wet. "I was taking a shower, Sirius."

"Yeah. _Sure._"

"So what's the emergency?"

"Taryn. I woke up this morning, and she wasn't anywhere inside, and when I went outside, I saw half of her wand and her earring, which was ripped out of her ear."

The annoyed, yet happy look that had been on Moony's face turned serious instantly. "How do you know?"

"Part of her ear was on it."

Remus didn't even look disgusted. "Well, a Death Eater obviously took her, and he or she is going to get you to come with somebody else from the Order to rescue her, and then they'll try to kill us, or tell us that if we give ourselves up, then they'll let her go, but after we surrender, they'd kill her anyway. So any of the obvious solutions will just end up in you, Taryn and me dying."

"So we won't do that, will we?"

"Nope."

"What other choices do we have?"

"Well, other than letting her die…" I winced when he said this. "We can lure them out of wherever they have her, then get her…"

"Or we could bring a stronger wizard with us. I mean, they can't have more than six Death Eaters guarding her, and we've won 3 to 6 before."

"We've won 1 to 6 to before, Sirius, but I have a feeling they might be planning more than just this. I bet this is part of something _big_."

O0o0O

Heh. It's not that bad, is it? See, this is the reason that I changed the second the second genre from drama to action/adventure.

Okay, so I'm out of school, which means _more chapters in less time_! Extremely loud and happy applause coming from the cartoon section of the audience while a few polite claps come from the real people section


	16. The Code Remus Cracked

O0o0O 

"So Jamie, you never told me how the mission went." Lily said, pouring some maple syrup on top of the plate of pancakes she had just made.

"Nobody died. We managed to capture about half of the Death Eaters that were there, and the rest got away. Nobody died, but Sirius broke his arm, and got bruises and cuts all over himself, and I sprained my wrist but I got it fixed before I came back here."

"Did you get the papers back?"

"Yeah." James answered, grabbing a pancake and putting it on his plate.

Lily glanced at the clock and said, "It's kind of cool having breakfast at two thirty."

"That's 'cause you've been waking up at six o'clock even _after_ we left Hogwarts, dear. It's not good for your soul."

Lily shook her head. "Honey, you're odd." She leaned forward and kissed her husband's lips lightly.

"Sirius and Taryn got back together." James told her.

"They did!" A bigger smile went across Lily's face. "That's brilliant. Taryn's not gonna be lonely anymore."

"Yup." James said, his mouth full of pancake.

"Jamie, don't talk with food in your mouth."

James swallowed the food. "Sorry Lil'."

Lily opened her mouth to say something but she closed it when she heard somebody yelling "James!" The strange thing was… It was coming out of James's robe pocket.

"I'll be gettin' that." James reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, square mirror. "Sirius?"

When Lily saw that Sirius's face was in the mirror instead of James's, she realized what the mirror did- let the two talk, sort of like a telephone, but you saw the other person too.

"Hey James. Sorry to bother you, but Remus and I need you and Lily's help on something…"

"Sure, but why Lily too? I got her reservations for a spa today…"

"She can go." Sirius shrugged. "But I think when she finds out what happened, she'll want to help."

"What happened?"

Remus came into view. "The Death Eaters got Taryn."

"What?" Lily shrieked, grabbing the mirror from James. "Taryn? _My_ Taryn?"

"No." Remus said slowly before Sirius came into view.

"_My_ Taryn." Sirius said.

"Same difference." Lily rolled her eyes.

James took the mirror back. "Want us to come to London? Anything we should bring?"

"Your wands and this mirror and your invisibility cloak and money I guess." Sirius said.

"Okay. We'll be there soon. Whose house should we floo to?"

"Remus's."

"'Kay."

O0o0O

"James, I missed you!" Sirius ran to his best friend.

"Padfoot, I just saw you a few days ago."

"So?" Sirius paused before saying, "Remus thinks that taking Taryn is part of this bigger thing, that it's not just trying to get us to go there so they could kill us."

"Maybe…" Lily began, sitting down on the couch. "It isn't. They want us to think it is and we'll bring half the Order, and then they'll end up killing _half_ the Order."

"True." Remus said, sitting down next to Lily. "So we won't bring half the Order."

"Wait, wait, wait." James said, sitting down between the two. "We don't even know _where_ they are."

"No we don't." Sirius agreed.

There was a silence, where the four looked at each other. Suddenly, Sirius stood up. "We need something to drink."

"Get me a beer, will you, mate?"

"Sure. Remus, Lily?"

"No thanks." They said in unison, then Remus added, "I'll just have coffee. 3 shots of expresso."

"3? Are you sure Moony?" Sirius asked, surprised.

Remus shrugged. "Better than getting drunk like you and Prongs."

"One beer does not get me drunk." Sirius protested.

"Not _really_ drunk, but enough to make you too drunk to resist having six more."

"Whatever." Sirius said, pouring his and James's beers.

"So…" Lily started loudly. "We all love Taryn and we know that, but we can't let it get in the way of thinking logically. First thing to do is find out where they are, where they have her."

There was another silence, which was broken a minute later when Remus said quietly, "I know."

"You know? Since when? Sirius asked.

"Now. I just figured out the riddle."

"Which riddle?" James asked.

"The one we found in the letter we found in that guy's robe."

"That was a riddle?" Sirius confusedly said.

"Yes it was." Lily said.

"Well what did it say?" James asked.

Remus took a piece of paper and read his written copy of the note:

_John Smith: You can find out where the sky will meet the ground even though they're feuding over many, many, many worlds that we might never meet. And I know that where they are, they know the truth of many lost lives today, which pretty much can decide whether or not change will happen. This is where some aspects of the things in our lives will start to decide when exactly to stop, speed up or repeat. Maybe if you know where the sky will meet the ocean, things will decide two pick up and pick sides, whom to decide to sever with, where to be at when they fall onto concrete._

_Smithwick Johnson: I truly do not know exactly where and what's wrong. It cannot be visible no more; There is really, really no reason to stay at there any longer._

_A. C. Moore: Where what is wrong, it cannot be you, can't be you who is to see others, so please, maybe, possibly, please can you help? When it's just you and me together, a trip is necessary for the truth to the long, far away from here past. To a place where I was not totally different, not stuck with you on land._

_3463846129427402843927438293: But beware I am an idiot when you go away. For if I don't ever see you are seen- You cannot even decide to to go between. And when I find out that you're out of the country and toward the kingdom- When you're not even in or out of the town, city, street or church. You can't leave me Sally to go back in to the ocean. It was not even so extremely pointless research. I love you_.

"How is that a riddle?" Sirius asked. "It's just a bunch of stupid sentences."

"The clues are within the sentences. For example, in the part to John Smith, it's every five words. For Smithwick Johnson, it's every seven and nine words. For A. C. Moore, it's two words, then skip four, then three, then skip four, then three, and so on. For the thing with the numbers, you add them up, and get a hundred twenty seven, so you do the first, second, and seventh, first, second, seventh and so on."

"And then what does it come out to?" James asked.

Remus read off of the paper once again:

_Where the feuding worlds meet,_

_Where the lives can change,_

_Where things start to repeat,_

_When the two sides sever at concrete,_

_Where what's visible is no longer,_

_Where what you can't see, others can,_

_When it's a trip to the past,_

_To a totally different land,_

_But beware when you go,_

_For if you are seen,_

_You cannot go between,_

_And when you're out of the kingdom,_

_When you're out of the church,_

_You can't go back in,_

_It was pointless research._

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sirius asked.

There was a pause, then James jumped up, his beer spilling all over his hand. "I know! The library!" He said excitedly.

Lily blinked. "Honey, sorry to spoil your excitement, but it's Platform Nine and Three Quarters, after Kings' Cross closes for the day."

"I don't get it." James said quietly.

"Well the part where it said kingdom and church pretty much gave it away, Prongs." Sirius pointed out.

"But other than that." Remus said. "There's a bunch of things in there that point to going to Hogwarts."

"So when are we going?"

"As soon as possible." Sirius said.

"And that's tomorrow night." Remus said.

O0o0O

It took me forever to write that riddle, but sorry if it's not that good…. Er… I love y'all!


	17. When You Miss Your Best Friend

O0o0O

"Tell me again." Lily started to ask Sirius. "Why we aren't going to tell the rest of the Order about this 'mission?'"

"Because." Sirius replied. "They'll change everything, like teachers do. As a matter of fact, some of them actually were, are or are going to be teachers."

"Wasn't it just a week ago that you were saying that the Order was like your family, and saying that they were a hundred times better than your blood relatives was the understatement of the year?"

"Yeah, I was, but according to Wormtail, Prongs and Moony, kids with normal families don't always like everything about them, and I guess this would be one of those times."

"Wow, Sirius, for once, you actually proved me wrong… Sort of."

Sirius grinned. "I guess when somebody I love is in danger, I sort of would do anything to get them back to safety, even become sensible."

"Yeah." Lily looked up at the sunset.

"Oh and by the way, I'm really sorry I cut your honeymoon short."

"Yeah, it's okay. I'm friends with Taryn too, remember?"

"Yeah, but I like her more than you."

"Oh yeah?" Lily stood up.

"Yeah!" Sirius stood up as well. "Wanna make somethin' out of it?"

"Yeah!" Lily shoved him, a smile coming onto her face.

Sirius shoved her back, grinning now. "Think you're so tough?"

"Tougher than you at least." Lily shot back at her husband's best friend, who was now giving her exaggerated dirty looks.

What would have turned out to be a hilariously fake fight was interrupted by Remus coming out into the backyard and calling them in for supper, "James attempted to make supper. He'll be disappointed if y'all don't come try it."

Sirius laughed, pushing past Lily and following Remus back inside. Lily, though, stayed back to finish watching the sunset.

When James realized that his wife wasn't coming inside for the supper he had made, he came outside to her. "Hey honey. Anything wrong?" He asked, lying down next to her on the soft grass.

"Other than Taryn being in danger? No."

"Not hungry?"

"Not really."

"Want me to stay out here with you 'til you want to go to sleep? Remus is letting us use the guest room, and Sirius is sleeping on the couch…"

When Lily didn't answer, James rolled over to see why she was silent, and saw that the reason was that she had fallen asleep. "Good night honey." He whispered, picking her up and carrying her inside.

O0o0O

Lily yawned, sitting up and crawling out of bed, careful not to wake up James. She walked out of the room, barely making a sound, and walked downstairs. It was still dark outside, but the sun would be coming up soon.

She could hear muttering coming out of the living room, and went there to see what it was. When she saw it was Sirius, she moved closer, but when she saw why he was talking, and whom he was talking to, she took a few steps back, not wanting to disturb him. He was talking to a picture of Taryn.

"I miss you Tar'. I can't stand to think about how you might be dead before I get to you, and it feels worse than it would if I knew that I was in severe risk of death. I'm not sure how long it's been before I told you this, but _you're all I want and all I need_. Just stay alive for me, okay?

"Because the second I get you back, I'm gonna get us reservations for that restaurant you like so much, and I'm going to propose, and everybody's going to clap, and we'll get married. We'll have children too, and you can name them whatever you want. You can do whatever you want Taryn." Sirius sighed, putting the picture face down on the coffee table next to the couch and lying back on the couch.

A few seconds after Sirius stopped talking, Lily decided it was safe to come into the room and say Hello. "Hey." She said quietly, sitting down on the edge of the couch.

"How much did you hear?" Sirius asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"Everything after 'I miss you Tar'."

"The last time I said it?"

"Yes." Lily was also avoiding eye contact. "Don't worry. Tomorrow, we're going to save her, no matter what it takes."

"I hope so." Sirius sighed, sitting up and looking at Lily. "Night is a strange thing. Sometimes it's _really_ good, and you have the chance to rest, to relax, to be with Taryn, but it's also a really quiet time, and when there are problems in my life, then it always becomes time to actually think about things, and… Well, it gets depressing, you know?"

"I know, Sirius. Sometimes you just have to remember that other people can understand, that you just have to give them a chance." Lily sighed, picking up his left hand and looking at his wrist. "And then this would happen less often. I'm sure Taryn doesn't want you hurting yourself because of her. Promise me you'll never do that again?"

"Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Good, because if you do, I'll be watching you like a hawk from then on."

O0o0O

"Good morning." James yawned, coming downstairs.

Sirius was drinking coffee on the couch, reading the Daily Prophet, and Lily was drinking coffee by the coffee table, waiting impatiently for Sirius to finish reading.

"Good morning." Lily said, not taking her eyes off of the paper in Sirius's hand.

"I see you two woke up early."

"No, honey. You woke up late."

"Early for me." James said sitting down next to Lily.

"Done!" Sirius said, tossing the Prophet to Lily, who started reading immediately after she caught it.

"Did you check if Remus was awake yet on your way downstairs?" Lily asked, not taking her eyes off of the paper.

"Yeah. He's still sleeping."

"That ironic. He usually sleeps three hours a day. I know. He was telling me yesterday while we were waiting for you to come." Sirius said.

"How interesting." James said sarcastically.

"You need some coffee." Sirius said, holding out his mug.

"Er, no thanks, mate." James pushed it away, standing up. "I'm gonna go wake up Moony."

"Have fun with th-th-th-th… SHIT!" Lily explained, terrified.

James raised an eyebrow. "Have fun with shit?"

"Lina!"

"Lina?" James asked confusedly.

"Lina!" Sirius exclaimed, looking over at Lily.

"Who the hell is Lina?" James practically screamed.

"Taryn's niece." Lily explained.

"Yeah and?"

"She wasn't there either when I was looking for Taryn…" Sirius said.

"Which means they have both of them?" James asked.

"Either that or there's a little kid alone in that house…." Remus said, coming downstairs, apparently having overheard the conversation.

"And neither are good, are they?" James asked.

"No." Remus, Lily and Sirius agreed in unison.

O0o0O

17 days people! Aren't you all excited! I'm going to go to a midnight party and get the book then? Any of you going to Spellbound 2005? I wish I could go, but my mom wouldn't let me.

I'm going to half to wait a bit more than I had planned between chapters now because I have a contest entry to work on, and swimming started this week. I've also got to clean my room, and see if I can finish rereading the series twice before the book comes out. It really wouldn't be much of a problem if I weren't so lazy and computer-obsessed.

Toodles!


	18. The Battle At Platform 9 and 3 Quarters

O0o0O

"Tell me again why Padfoot couldn't come instead of me? I'm not good with kids…" James complained to his wife.

"Because" Lily said. "Padfoot is even worse with kids. She's _scared _of him."

"Why?"

"She woke up to a strange man getting off of a flying motorcycle in a leather jacket. If you were her age, you'd be scared too." Lily explained, walking around to the back of the house since the front door was locked.

Fortunately, the back door was open and Lily walked in quietly. Looking over her shoulder at James, she whispered, "Be as quiet as possible. We don't want to scare her…"

Lily walked into the living room, and since Lina wasn't there, she walked back into the hall, and screamed…

So nothing bad had really happened, but seeing Rachel out of the hospital was shocking. She hadn't thought that she was going to _ever_ get better.

"Hey Lily. What're you doing here? Ever heard of _knocking_?"

"Er… Sorry, Rachel."

"And who's this?" Rachel asked, looking over at James.

"James, my husband."

"_Wow_. I've missed _a lot_." Rachel said, closing the door that she had been walking out of. Last time Rachel had talked to Lily was two years ago, and at that time, she still _hated_ James.

Lily nodded. "Listen, Taryn didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry, Lily. Lina told me the whole story. Taryn had to leave, so she called a baby sitter, which never came. Doesn't matter. Lina was only alone for a few hours. She didn't starve or anything like that."

Lily looked over at James, lost for words. Why would Lina lie to her mother, not tell her the truth, that Death Eaters kidnapped Taryn?

Deciding it was probably better to keep Lina's story until they got Taryn back, Lily nodded in agreement. "Taryn's going to be _so_ sorry when she finds out the babysitter didn't come."

"No, it's okay, really, but when you see her, can you tell her to come visit sometime? I really miss her, and I haven't really seen her for months."

"Yeah, sure." Lily forced a smile onto her face.

"Do you want some tea?" Rachel asked politely.

"No thanks. We're in sort of a hurry."

"Life or death situation." James added, and Lily stepped on his foot.

"Okay then. See ya." Rachel said, getting the feeling that they didn't want to stay any longer.

"Bye."

O0o0O

"You guys have to be totally serious about this. No making jokes until we're back in safety, though I can't assure you that all of us will ever make it back to safety. Also, remember to try to avoid battle as much as possible, and don't question if it we get Taryn out without having to fight any Death Eaters." Sirius said to his three friends.

Remus, James and Lily nodded in understanding. "So Sirius, you can go ahead and turn into dog form. James, you and Lily can get under the invisibility cloak, and I'll disillusion myself."

Sirius nodded and began to transform into his animagus dog form as Remus tapped himself and said some magic words, then became the same color as what was behind him. It made him harder to see, but not as invisible as Lily and James were after they got under his invisibility cloak.

Sirius was the first to leave the house, and Lily and James followed, and Remus left last, closing the door behind him. They had agreed earlier that it was close enough to walk to Kings' Cross, as it wasn't _that_ far away.

When they got to Kings' Cross, Sirius was the one to push the door open, just in case anybody was watching (It wouldn't have been good if somebody saw an invisible person walking into the station, especially a muggle.).

It was dark inside, even compared to the darkness outside, which wasn't really that dark due to the streetlights, moon and stars. It was very hard for Sirius to see anything at all, so he just followed the sound of his friends' footsteps, as they had better vision than he had.

"Platform seven, eight…" Sirius heard James count of very quietly.

"Nine and three quarters." Remus finished for him, even quieter. "Now, one at a time, go in. Be prepared for anything."

Remus went in first, then James and Lily. Sirius went in last, and was rather surprised to see that they weren't instantly attacked by Death Eaters, that it was dark there too.

Neither at them said a word as they just stood there, waiting. At that point, Sirius couldn't see anything, not even his paw in front of his face. His three friends _could_ see, but barely any more than Sirius could. In that case, barely became enough, because on the other side of the train, a very small light was lit, that Sirius was too short in his dog form to see, but the others saw very well, and saw who was holding the wand that made the light.

Lily couldn't help but scream "Taryn!" and when she did, all the lights turned on, and the four saw the Death Eaters that filled the platform, that had been waiting for them after all.

Sirius immediately began to turn back into his human form as Lily and James thrust off the invisibility cloak. Remus, however, stayed disillusioned, as it wasn't really bothering him as much as the lack of being able to hold a wand would.

The four had their wands ready, and the twenty people in the room remained silent, not moving until Taryn muttered something under her breath and a purple beam came out of her wand, and would have hit James if he hadn't dodged it.

At that, the rest of the Death Eaters said their spells, and there were four spells coming toward each of the four members of the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius dropped to the floor to dodge the first one, and immediately jumped up to dodge the second and third, and dropped back onto the floor to dodge the fourth that was coming toward him. "Expelliarmus!" He shouted, pointing his wand at a Death Eater that looked too weak to do wandless magic, and the Death Eaters wand flew toward him. Snapping it in half, Sirius moved to the left to dodge another spell coming toward him.

Meanwhile, James was quickly dodging all the spells that were coming toward him, while casting spells at random Death Eaters (all those years of playing dodge ball at Quidditch practice came in handy…); Lily was struggling not to get hit by anything, and doing well; and Remus was getting targeted by the least spells due to the fact that he was partly invisible, and therefore casting the most spells out of the four of them.

After almost getting hit by the death curse six times, Sirius was really beginning to appreciate that he was still alive, and was really amazed that there were already ten Death Eaters on the floor, and none of his friends. He looked over at a Death Eater about to jump off of the train. He exclaimed a spell, a light yellow beam came out of his wand, and the Death Eater tripped over the edge of the train and fell face first onto the floor, her hand falling just two feet away from Sirius's foot.

The girl was close enough for Sirius to recognize her as Taryn, and he went over to her, knowing that unconscious she wouldn't do any hard to him.

Not realizing that his friends could possibly need his help with the remaining Death Eaters, Sirius looked down at Taryn. He had figured out by then that a Death Eater, who was probably got out of her body when she fell, was controlling her.

Taryn's eyes were closed but he was able to tell that she was still breathing. _She was alive_.

Sirius picked her up and looked around. James, Lily and Remus were still dueling with the seven Death Eaters around them. Supposing that they would be able to handle it, Sirius carried Taryn out of the platform and into the dark Kings' Cross station. Her eyes were still closed as he carried her outside and laid her down on the soft, slightly wet grass and examined her under the light of the moon. He saw that they had cut off most of her dark blonde hair, probably just to get her mad, and scars stood out a lot on her pale face.

Sirius picked up her hand and saw that it had been burnt. Placing it down gently, he looked at her clothes. She was still wearing the jeans and tank top she had been wearing the day they took her, but the jeans were ripped at the knees, and the blue top was very dirty. He took off the Death Eater robes they had put on her, and put them under her head as a pillow.

"S-S-Sirius?"

"Taryn!" Sirius exclaimed. Now that her eyes were open, he saw that they were bloodshot, and she hadn't gotten much sleep.

Taryn smiled weakly and tried to sit up but feel back down and the smile faded away. "Sirius, they told me… They told me they're gonna… going to kill you, Sirius."

"I know Tar'." Sirius said softly. "But that's not important right now. What _is_ important is to get you home…"

"But-"

"No buts, sweetie. Close your eyes and go to sleep. I'll wake y-"

"What if I don't wake up?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

Taryn closed her eyes and told him, "They fed me poisonous food."

"How do you know?"

"They told me, but I had to eat it or they'd kill me right away." Taryn paused. "Sirius, I'm gonna die."

O0o0O

_Oh _my_ goodness! Sorry for the unusually long wait, but was having serious writer's block on chapter 23, and I have this thing that I just _have_ to be five chapters ahead, so I couldn't post this until I finished that! Sorry! I'll warn you now, though, that the next few chapters are barely going to have that many happy moments, and there'll be another big skip somewhere around chapters twenty and twenty-one, though not as big as the one from the middle of sixth year, all the way to the wedding.  
And I won't be posting another chapter again until _after_ I finish Half-Blood Prince, but that won't take more than a day, so another one should be up on Sunday. :D Ugh, I keep forgetting the disclaimer…  
_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.


	19. When You Just Miss Death

O0o0O

Sirius stared into Taryn's eyes. "Taryn, is this some kind of cruel joke?" He asked seriously.

"No, Sirius." Taryn answered, her eyes filling up with tears as she attempted to sit up, and this time succeeded.

"Taryn…." Sirius pulled her onto his lap and held her tightly. "I'm sorry I ever let you out of my sight."

"I… I'm sorry I didn't put up more of a struggle…."

Sirius hugged her more tightly. "I love you Taryn…"

"I know…" Taryn paused. "I love you Sirius."

"I…" Sirius voice trailed off as James, Lily and Remus came running out of the station.

"Oh, Merlin! Sirius, we didn't know where you went." James said, letting go of Lily's hand to let her run off in Taryn's direction.

"We thought the Death Eaters got you." Remus explained.

Lily sat down next to Taryn and looked at her. "Tar', I'm _so_ glad, you're okay…"

At Lily's comment, the sadness in Taryn's eyes greatened, and she shook her head.

"You are basically okay, aren't you?"

"No." Taryn sobbed, turning her head and burying it in Sirius's chest.

So Sirius told Remus, James and Lily about how they gave her poison food, stopping every few moments to comfort Taryn.

Lily blinked. "Well we got to get her to a hospital, then." She said, then looked at Taryn. "Are you strong enough to apparate?"

Taryn nodded slowly. "I think."

"Then we'll meet you at St. Mungo's. James, Remus and I will go first, then you, then Sirius."

"'Kay."

O0o0O

Taryn fell the second she got to the hospital, being so tired that she wasn't able to hold herself up anymore.

When Sirius apparated there, he saw her and immediately rushed to help. "Tar', are you okay?"

Taryn nodded, standing up slowly. "Get me to a bed, Sirius…"

Sirius grabbed her hand and guided her to the front desk. "My girlfriend's poisoned."

"Go to floor . A healer will be waiting up there."

"'Kay, thanks." The couple hurried off toward the stairs.

O0o0O

"Is Taryn going to be okay?" Sirius asked the Healer.

The Healer nodded. "For the while. We managed to get most of the poison out of her body, but there's still some more left. It'd be better if she stays here for another week or two before she goes back home."

"And then she'll be alright?"

She bit her lip, and replied after a few moments. "We don't know, exactly. It really depends on how much magic is _in_ the poison. If it's normal muggle poison, she'll be perfectly healthy, but if it's got potions in it, it will be harder to help her, and… Well, if the poison is bad enough, she could die."

"D-die?" Sirius stuttered.

"Only possibly. There's a chance she's going to be fine when she leaves here."

There was an awkward silence, which was broken when Sirius asked, "Well can I go see her? I haven't seen here for two days…"

"She's sleeping right now, but if you'd like, you can go wait. I hear holding somebody's hand can help more than potions or spells of any kind." The Healer advised.

"Thanks." Sirius slowly opened the door to Taryn's room and walked in, closing the door behind him.

Taryn was lying on the bed, over the covers, looking nothing like she usually did, so peaceful, yet so empty. Her dark blonde hair was neater than it had been when he had saved her, so he supposed somebody had brushed it for her.

Sirius walked over to a chair and stared at Taryn, taking in every detail. She was wearing one of those white hospital gowns. Her right hand was lying on her stomach and the other over the white sheets. The only sign of her moving was her chest going up and down with each breath in and out. In fact, her and Sirius' breathing was the only sound in the room.

After what seemed like ages, yet passed by quickly, Taryn slowly opened her eyes and helped herself up to a sitting position with her left hand. She looked over at Sirius, yet didn't say anything as she crossed her legs and continued to stare at him.

"Taryn?" Sirius uttered quietly rather scared that she had changed.

"Go away, Black."

"W-why?"

"Because I got too attached and there's a chance you could die and if I continue to be so close to you, I'd just die if I lost you."

Sirius continued to listen.

"It's possible, Black, well, for a witch it is. If my emotions get too strong, I don't need a wand to do magic. I could get so sad… That I just die."

"But you can control it."

"But if I remain attached to you, I wouldn't want to control it. I'd _want_ to die, want to join you, drop dead, meet you up there in heaven… Or down there in hell. I don't know where you'd do, don't know where I'd go."

"Heaven." Sirius said quietly before standing up and walking to the door. "If you want me to leave, I will. Love ya, Tar'."

He opened the door and walked out.

0OoO0

_Knock! Knock!_ James and Lily walked in without waiting for Sirius to answer. They both knew that he was feeling horrible inside, and were going to try to get him to stop bottling up all his emotions.

They found his lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Sirius…" James said, sitting down on his left as Lily sat down on his right.

Lily held Sirius's hand in hers. "It's all going to be okay. You know that right?"

He didn't answer.

"Because as soon as Taryn gets better, she'll come to her senses, realizing that she needs you, how much she loves you." James said.

"When James and I broke up that one time, I was pretty reluctant to go back to him, but then one day I just broke down. I couldn't stand being without him. Taryn will feel the same really soon. I know how much she cares for you."

He didn't answer, but just pulled his hand away from Lily and continued to stare up at the ceiling.

"Sirius, when we joined the Order, we agreed that we'd make sacrifices." James said. "And there's people out there who've sacrificed their lives for the Order, and you are just lying here, all depressed, because your girl friend's a little unwell at the moment, even though you know she'll be better and decide to take back what she-"

Sirius turned to look at James and interrupted him. "Taryn doesn't want to talk to me anymore because she got too close, and now she knows that my life is at risk, and she doesn't want to put her life at risk, because although she knows she could survive through things like being captured by Death Eaters, she also knows she's not that good at controlling her emotions. She knows that if I die and she's still so close to me, she'd kill herself before anybody else would have a chance to stop her." He took a deep breath and continued. "And knowing that that's true, and knowing that I could very possibly be dead within the next few weeks even, I agree with Taryn in the fact that for _her_ safety, we have to break up."

"You know that's a really big decision, right? After all those years?"

Sirius nodded. "But I'm gonna be all right, really. In fact, knowing that she's _not_ going to kill herself, I'm going to be better soon."

"You're really getting mature, Sirius." Lily told him.

"No." Sirius said. "I just really liked Taryn and wanted the best for her."

Lily smiled slightly. "Well that's good… I'll visit Taryn in a few days and see if me and her can still be friends, so then you'll be able to keep up with what's happening in her life without having to see her."

"That's a good idea… Who wants some homemade pudding I made yesterday?"

"Me!" James waved his hand in the air.

"Excellent!"

O0o0O

"Hey Tar'." Lily said, sitting down on the edge of Taryn's bed.

"Hey Lily. What's up? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course. All four of us are pretty much okay. Remus just has a broken neck, which should be fixed as soon as we actually explain everything that happened to us. I reckon Dumbledore will be mad at us for not telling him we were going on a rescue mission."

"Yeah, I guess…."

"So, I hear you and Sirius are…"

"Broken up, yeah. I suppose he told you why."

"Yeah."

"And I meant every word I said."

There was a silence.

"What about you and me?" Lily asked suddenly.

At this, Taryn burst into laughter. "Of course we could still be friends. I have to find out every single detail about Sirius's life _somehow_, Lil'!"

Lily laughed. "Of course. I don't know why I didn't see that!"

O0o0O

Who cried after reading Half-Blood Prince? I did! Well, anyway, I'm reply to you reviewers. Every single one…

Evahyoung- Hehe. Thanks for reviewing. Your first review has been answered already so… Well, yeah, thanks for reading and reviewing!  
Lovergirl- Yes, it must be a new year thing. :D  
LalaInDeKitchen- Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you like it!  
Gemini- Thanks! You really think so?  
Ericana- Thanks! I update as soon as I can, really!  
Joy- Thank you!  
Pixi55- I already replied to one of your reviews in a previous chapter, but for the other one, I'll just say that I've written 25 chapter so far. How far this'll drag on, I'm not sure… Thanks for reviewing!  
Franci- Thanks!  
Benny- Thank you for reviewing. It is a cute couple, isn't it?  
Luna- Thanks for reviewing. Yeah, a lot of chapters in this are sad. It gets sadder soon. Sorry…  
Sarah- Considering the circumstances, that might never happen. Guess you'll just have to read on to find out.  
Motzkeks- w00t! Thanks!  
Silent Storm 2000- Thanks so much for reviewing! To make the riddle, I first made the poem part, and then went to the other part. The thing that made it have so many parts was just my pure laziness. I was getting sick of having to make the paragraph so long just for a few words, that I made a quicker part, and then that got annoying, so then two more even quicker parts came out.  
Madpoet08- Thank you!  
Sadiler- No she isn't. She just said it so she could stay in the Hospital Wing. But then she realized she had Quidditch, so she and James convinced Madam Pomfrey that she wasn't… Oh and thanks for reviewing!

Thanks you all! Reviews really make my day, you know! Hope you liked this chapter!


	20. The Job For The Newspaper

O0o0O

So Lily and Taryn continued to be friends. Taryn went home to live with her parents, as she couldn't afford a place of her own. She explained the whole thing to her sister, but bending the truth a bit to avoid telling her about the Order, which she had sworn to Dumbledore that she would keep secret.

Lily went back to Hawaii with James and they finished their honeymoon in peace. When they came back home, they visited Taryn and James filled her in on everything big that had happened in Sirius' life. He had found a new girl friend. Taryn didn't really mind that much, for it would be hypocritical- She had just gone out with somebody a week ago to get her mind off of Sirius.

Taryn hadn't seen Peter since the wedding but didn't mention it, supposing that he was busy. She saw Remus a lot, though, because she lived closest to him out of all of her friends.

She got a job working in the advice column in a local muggle newspaper. It was a pretty easy job for her as she had faced a lot of the problems that the people writing in had.

Her sister told her to get a magic job, but there was nothing she really would want to do. Her current job paid enough so why would she want to go get some magic job that she couldn't do that well, and get fired?

After three months working at the newspaper, she got the first letter that stumped her…

_Dear Taryn,  
My girlfriend and I broke up four months ago and I agreed to it, though pretty reluctant to see her go. I'm dating somebody else now, but I can't stop thinking about the girlfriend that I had had before her. I mean, we didn't even get together until I had had dozens of girlfriends before but I just liked her more than the others. She was different. I probably wouldn't have been able to see that if she didn't hate me. Now that _really_ made her different from all the other girls. Now I don't want to go back to her begging and take back my 'mature' decision. What do I do?_

_From,_

Er…. Rather Not Say My Name 

Taryn first decided to handle the problem by thinking what she would do if she were in that position, but coming to the conclusion that she would just go ask Lily for advice, she went to the second step and went back into her memory and checked if that had ever happened before anywhere in her relationship with Sirius.

And then she realized that Sirius had been the one writing to her.

He missed her.

He missed her.

He missed her.

Well, what was she supposed to write? Was he expecting for her to realize it was he? Was this his way of telling her? Or was he really writing just for the advice? Did he even know that she was the Taryn that he was writing to?

She sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. For the next few minutes she just listened to the sound of people rushing around the room with paper and the sound of printers printing articles.

Slowly, she drifted off into her mind, losing contact with everything else around her. Her thoughts went back to the day that she and Sirius had first broken up, in their seventh year.

It had been a really nice day at first. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Taryn had gotten up, ready for a great day.

She had walked down to the Great Hall and instantly found Sirius. He always stood out in the crowd. Taryn then walked over to him and sat down on his lap. "Good morning, Sirius." She greeted him.

Sirius hadn't looked as cheerful as usual and she knew it was because he had been up studying all night. I know it sounds impossible, but it was mostly because the Potions master had threatened to not let him go to Hogsmeade that weekend and he was supposed to be going with Taryn.

Sirius had had to leave the Great Hall early to help Peter, James and Remus with a prank they were working on (Taryn guessed that it would be on this group of Ravenclaw boys who had tried to prank them, and guessed correctly.). Soon after he had left, owls flew into the Great Hall.

Much to her surprise, an eagle owl landed by her plate, holding an envelope. Curiously, she reached over and took it from the owl. She opened the envelope neatly and looked at the letter that was inside it.

_Dear Taryn,_

So I've been thinking a lot recently, and with Prongs and Lily getting together last week, I don't think it's best if we stay together. I mean, it's really hard to explain and I couldn't say it to your face.

_I can't even say I love you._

_Please don't bring this up after this. I can't stand it._

_-Sirius_

After rereading the letter, Taryn stood up and walked out of the Great Hall, trying to stay calm, and then burst into tears she was out of the view of her fellow students. Crying was something she had not done for four and a half years.

The next day, Sirius had pretty much avoided her, but she was able to feel him looking at her during class.

Taryn sighed, opening her eyes and looking around the room. Only a few people hadn't left yet, so she looked back at the computer that she had been typing with and logged off.

She grabbed her sweatshirt and walked slowly out of the building, deciding to type up her reply to Sirius' letter next time she was at a computer. At that moment, she really had no idea what she would reply to the letter, or if she would even reply to it. But no matter what she did, Taryn knew that she would be seeing Sirius again very soon.

O0o0O

And the review reply:  
Evahyoung- I know that Sirius may have _seemed_ perfectly calm when Taryn said that she didn't want to be with him, but he really was screaming inside, and trust me- He didn't want to leave her at all, but he knew that she's too stubborn. Well, anyway, this chapter sort of supports what I just said, that he really didn't want to leave her.

Thanks for reading:D


	21. When You Empty Out Your Trunk

O0o0O

It had been ages since he'd seen her, and he already missed her like crazy. Since she had been the one that had broken up, he supposed she didn't miss him that much. He wondered if she was still the same, if she still had the same beautiful dark blonde hair that fell past her shoulders, almost to her elbows. Maybe she had cut it or maybe she had let it grow longer? Maybe she had dyed it. All he really knew about her from Lily was that she was working in an advice column for a local muggle newspaper.

Of course, he _was_ dating somebody, a girl named Emma, but Emma was trying much too hard. He remembered how Taryn never had to try to gain his affection. She would just smile naturally and he would melt. That smile… He missed that smile.

Sirius had tried to get a job but had to quit it because he was too busy with the Order to keep up with another job. It didn't really matter, because he had plenty of money anyway.

Over a cup of coffee, Peter had recommended that he ask her for advice by writing to her advice column. At first, the idea was absurd, but remembering that people who wrote to advice columns rarely ever signed their names anyway, he thanked Peter and went over to a typewriter to type out his letter. It was hard to write at first, but after the first few words, the rest came naturally. It was just hard trying to make it make sense, and remembering to leave out all names.

_Dear Taryn,_

_My girlfriend and I broke up four months ago and I agreed to it, though pretty reluctant to see her go. I'm dating somebody else now, but I can't stop thinking about the girlfriend that I had had before her. I mean, we didn't even get together until I had had dozens of girlfriends before but I just liked her more than the others. She was different. I probably wouldn't have been able to see that if she didn't hate me. Now that _really_ made her different from all the other girls. Now I don't want to go back to her begging and take back my 'mature' decision. What do I do?_

_From,_

Er…. Rather Not Say My Name 

Sirius then paid Peter to send it to the newspaper for him.

O0o0O

Yes, it was hard waiting the answer to the article to come into the newspaper. He got Lily to check it everyday for a reply to his letter and it seemed like it would never come.

He spent the time waiting for the article emptying his old school trunk. Being lazy, he really never got to cleaning it out yet and he took that as the chance.

Sirius started by taking out his books one by one, and taking all the pieces of parchment with notes scribbled on them out and putting them in a big pile to look through later. He then took out all his uniforms and emptied their pockets. He dumped all his quills, spare parchment, ink wells and combs out of his cauldron. All that was left at the bottom of the trunk was random things from Zonko's and candy.

After putting away all the books and clothes, he went over to the pile of old notes and began to look through them…

Hey Sirius. What'd you get for number six?  
**D- All of the above**  
It wasn't multiple choice!  
**So?**  
So you can't put D.  
**I put D.**

**My head hurts.  
**Get some ice.  
**Ice is cold.  
**Then go to sleep.  
**Sleep makes me tired.  
**Then deal with it.What do you think I am, Padfoot, a Healer?  
**No. You're a rat.**

**Everyone sign your name:  
Mr. Sirius Padfoot Black**  
_Mr. James Prongs Potter_  
Mr. Peter Wormtail Pettigrew  
**_Mr. Remus _Loony _Moony Lupin_**

_Dear Sirius,  
As I think more and more about our relationship, I also think more and more about whether or not we'll last. Last night, while Lily and James were out taking a walk around the castle, I decided that it wouldn't be good if we were together any longer. I mean, I've hated you all my life, haven't I?  
I hope you don't bring this up again. If anybody asks why we're not together, just change the subject, okay? I really can't stand to talk about it anymore.  
Yeah, I guess this was our last day together.  
From, Taryn_

Sirius stared at the letter. That was the letter that broke up him and Taryn. When he first got it, he didn't know that it was really from his brother, Regulus. He didn't figure that out until he realized that Lily and James hadn't taken the walk the day before the letter was written, but three days before. He then found Taryn and asked her when she wrote the letter…

"Hey Taryn." He said, coming up behind her in the corridor. She didn't answer, so he continued. "I wanted to ask you when you wrote that letter. You know, the break up one."

At this, Taryn stopped in her tracks and looked at him. "Are you kidding me, Black?"

"No. I honestly want to know."

"You should know, Black," Taryn said angrily. "That _you're_ the one that broke up with _me_!"

"What are you talking about? _You_ broke up with _me_!"

Taryn bit her lip so hard that it bled instantly. He could see that she was holding in her anger.

"You did, didn't you?"

Taryn shook her head. "No, I didn't." She said angrily. "You did."

"I didn't." Sirius said, taking the letter out of his back pocket. "I have the letter right here."

Taryn snatched the letter out of his hand and read it. "I didn't write this."

He pushed her. "Who did then? Regulus?" He asked jokingly, yet angrily.

"Maybe! Go ask him!" Taryn said, gesturing to the Slytherin boy walking by.

And Sirius asked him, just to make Taryn angrier, and then a smile grew on Regulus' face and he nodded.

O0o0O

Woooo! Sorry it took a while to update! I've spent all my time either swimming or bowling. But today was the swimming Championships (My team got third place out of eight teams! w00t!) so there's no more swim practice and I'll have more time to put up chapters.

Hoped you like this. :D I don't own Harry Potter, by the way.


	22. The Visit From A Memory

Oh my god, I'm so sorry it took so long to take this up, especially since I said they'd be getting up more often! I'm been so busy since school started and that's not counting swimming practice three times a week, girl scout meetings once a week and stage crew for two hours every day because that doesn't start until October. Well, anyway, I'm sorry, and I'll put up 2 chapters of Notice Me and another one of this tomorrow!

O0o0O

_Dear Rather Not Say My Name,_

_Wow, your letter really stumped me. I actually had to go home and think about it for a while. Your letter really reminded me about something that happened between my boyfriend and me. When I first met him, I hated him so much that I couldn't stand being in the same room as him for more than a minute. I hurt him many times (Though I may not be as pretty as some other people I know, I'm rather strong.). Then in our sixth year at our school, he kept cornering me and just kissing me. I couldn't make him stop. It wasn't that I wasn't strong enough, though. In fact, I didn't even struggle, because no matter what I told myself at the moment, I know I didn't want him to stop. His kisses left me breathless. He saved my life that month too, and then we started going out. Then, in our seventh year, we broke up because of a cruel trick that his brother played on us. We grew apart and didn't get together even when we found out it was just a trick. Later, after we were out of school, I saw him at a wedding. I wanted to get back together, but he didn't, but then when we left he wanted to get back together and what he had said made me _not_ want to get together. We're both so stubborn. So, anyway, he came to my house at night and that night we got back together. Then, later that week, something horrible happened that made me break up with him. He said that he understood and we just… never saw each other since then._

_If _my_ boyfriend missed me right now, I'd want him to tell me, and not just sit there in pain, but he has a girlfriend right now, so if he wants to get back together with me, he'd have to break up with her first, because in that situation, I would be considered the 'other woman' and I don't want that at all. Trust me, I miss my boyfriend right now more than he knows so this sounds a bit hypocritical, but I honestly don't want to get back together with him. I still stand by what I told him when we broke up, but I still miss him, so I'd love to see his face._

_So my advice to you is this: Just tell her that you miss her. If she misses you as much as you miss her, then she'll want to get back together with you. If she doesn't want to get back together, don't beg, but feel free to ask again casually after a while. If her feelings change, she'll be happy you asked again._

_Is that enough for you?_

Taryn 

Taryn sighed, rolling over and nearly falling off of her bed. She just couldn't sleep, knowing that Sirius was going to soon see her reply to his advice letter. Her stomach hurt from nervousness and she was sure that her eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. Of course, she had only slept half an hour the night before.

Figuring that it was hopeless to try to fall asleep, Taryn crawled out of bed and walked down to the kitchen. She was home alone because her parents were on vacation again.

Pouring herself a cup of milk, Taryn glanced at the clock. It was almost three in the morning. She still had hours before she had a chance of seeing or hearing Sirius again.

Tiredly, she took her tall glass of milk and plate of cookies back to her room and turned on the TV. The Saturday morning cartoons hadn't started yet so she just sat back and watched 'Annie.'

After that, she watched three cartoons. Now excited about the theme song to the fourth cartoon, Charlie Brown, Taryn stood up and got ready to dance. When she was in her fifth year, she and Lily had made up a dance to the song during a party to celebrate Gryffindor's winning of the Quidditch cup.

"I always told you that you looked like an eight year old in a teenager's body when you do that dance." Said somebody, coming up behind Taryn.

Taryn immediately stopped dancing and turned around, not blushing at all. "Ever head of knocking?" She asked, smiling up at him.

Sirius had gotten taller since she had last seen him. He was now a head taller than she was. "I don't think so." He answered, smiling back.

"So what brings you to this part of the country?"

"I miss him, and I'd _love_ to see his face." Sirius said in a girly voice. "Sound familiar?"

"I think so." She sat back down on her chair. "I hear you missed me."

"Really? Well, I guess I did."

"So how's your girlfriend?"

"Dumped her. She was trying too hard."

"Why would she need to? I tried hard to get you to hate me and we _still_ ended up together."

Sirius shrugged. "It's just something about you that other girls don't have…"

"Er… I really don't know what that might be…" She smiled.

"I guess I just… Nevermind." Sirius shook his head.

"No, what?" Taryn said, leaning back on the back two legs of the chair.

"Nothing, nothing…" Sirius said. "So, do you still stand by what you said?"

"About me not wanting to get back together with you?" She fell down onto the floor with the chair.

"Mmhmm." Sirius kneeled down beside her.

"Yes, I still stand by what I said, then."

"Why?"

"Why? Well, because I still don't want to be hurt because you're in the Order. And I don't want you to die and then be depressed for the next few years and end up never dating anybody again and being alone at the age of forty and turn into a mass murderer, and then end up killing myself out of guilt for killing dozens and dozens and dozens of…"

Sirius interrupted her. "What are the chances that that's going to happen?"

"A lot!" Taryn blinked. "Well, maybe it's not that likely, but…" Her voice trailed off.

"But what?" He was awfully close now and she felt his breath.

"But all I know is that when we're together, I like you more and more by the second and if we continue to date, I'll just end up being so close to you that you dying would just suck out all the meaning from my life. I mean, even after being without you for so long, I'm still madly in love with you!"

Sirius blinked and paused for a few seconds. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." He said quietly.

Taryn was forgetting how uncomfortable she was because of Sirius' face being so close to hers. "I wish I had never met you…"

This seemed to hurt Sirius. "I know you don't mean that."

"I do." Taryn closed her eyes and kissed his lips lightly. "Why did you have to make me fall for you? You could have had any other girl, and you chose me. I wasn't even one of the prettiest. I didn't even _like_ you!"

"Do you think _I_ liked _you_ before our sixth year?"

Taryn closed her eyes. "I'm constantly worrying about you, about us, Sirius. I would have been better off single. Dating you is too stressful." She muttered.

"You really think so?" He asked.

Taryn nodded, rolling off of the chair and onto the carpet. "I'd really like it if you left me alone again, until later."

"Later?"

"Tomorrow."

"Sure." Sirius stood up and walked slowly out the front door.

O0o0O


	23. When You Have Nothing Better To Do

O0o0O

Sirius went to the Order meeting after coming home from Taryn's house and grabbing his flying motorcycle and some papers he was supposed to hand in. He arrived at the meeting a few minutes late, but nobody seemed to care.

The meeting ran _hours_ longer than it was supposed to. The plan stated that they were only going to discuss three topics, but earlier that day, a Death Eater was captured, and after interrogating him, the members had a new topic to discuss, which led to a question that nobody could seem to solve. After the meeting, Sirius decided to stay a little longer to watch them further question the Death Eater. He didn't leave Headquarters until after midnight.

Leaving the Headquarters, Sirius bumped into Peter, knocking him over. "Oh, sorry Wormtail." He said tiredly, holding out a hand to help him up.

Peter took the hand and got to his feet. "It's okay, Padfoot." He said. "Long meeting today, huh?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. Ran three hours longer than scheduled!"

Peter sneezed. "Why'd you stay longer?"

"Wanted to watch them interrogate that Death Eater. Why'd _you_ stay longer?"

"Decided to help clean up." He shrugged.

"Why were you going back in?"

"I think I threw out my money bag." Peter said quietly.

Sirius laughed. "Well get it back before Prongs steals it! You know how he is about searching threw the garbage…"

And Peter scurried back into the headquarters.

Once the door slammed shut, Sirius began to walk back to his motorcycle. He looked at the sky, now clearer than it had been earlier. Deciding it would be safer to ride home on ground, he got on and put on his helmet.

As he rode off down the street, he looked back and saw Peter leaving Headquarters, twirling a dirty moneybag on his finger, then bending down to pick up the money that fell out.

O0o0O

Taryn spent the day doing basically nothing. She must have walked around the house eighteen times before she got hungry and ordered pizza.

As she sat on the couch with a box of pizza on her lap, watching the weather for the umpteenth time that day, she thought of something remotely interesting to do. After giving up, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

When Taryn woke up, she walked upstairs to get a book from her room. "Ugh, I hate days off." She muttered, opening the door. "I should get another job for Tues- Hello?"

There was somebody sitting in her big armchair, facing away from her. '_Typical scene from one of those cliché muggle action movies…_' Taryn thought as the person stood up and turned around to face her.

It was a Death Eater.

Instantly, Taryn apparated out of her house with a soft _Pop!_. She ended up outside the local library. A few seconds later, though, the Death Eater appeared a few feet away. Instantly, she apparated away again, this time to Sirius' house.

The Death Eater appeared a meter away from her almost instantly, and she started to run upstairs, dodging the red beam of light coming toward her. Taryn burst through the door to Sirius' bedroom. He wasn't there…

'_Perfect, just perfect…_' She thought sarcastically and ran back downstairs, the Death Eater haven thought that she had went to a different room and now behind her again.

Taryn pulled out her wand and exclaimed the first spell that came to her head, "Expelliarmus!"

The Death Eater's wand dropped out of his hand but he picked it up instantly. "Avada-" He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Taryn opened the door and screamed "Go away!" at the person that was standing there, before running out and running around the house to Sirius' backyard.

She was shocked to see the person who was at the door standing there now. "I told you to go away!" She yelled to Sirius' ex-girlfriend.

But it was too late. The Death Eater was already in the middle of his spell. After getting hit by a green beam of light, Emma fell down onto the grass. She was dead.

Taryn ran back inside quickly, now tired from all that running. After catching her breath, she turned around to see where the Death Eater was, only to see a bright green light and drop onto the hard floor.

O0o0O

The ride home on ground seemed to take forever. Upon arrival home, Sirius dragged himself to the backyard so he could put the motorcycle away in the shed. He guided the bike across the backyard in the dark, looking down at his feet to make sure he didn't step on anything.

Sirius stopped abruptly and stared down at what was in front of his feet. "Emma?" He asked questionably, dropping the motorcycle, kneeling down beside his ex-girlfriend's head and staring down at her.

He poked her. She didn't move. "Emma…" He whispered. "Is she… She can't be…" He picked her up and brought her to the one light shining in the backyard. Her face was pale and he recognized the look on her face. She was dead. Someone had used Avada Kedavra on her.

Sirius carried Emma inside so he could call the Order and tell Dumbledore that they had killed Emma. He was too busy trying to see where he was going to see the body that he tripped over until he actually tripped over it.

He turned around to see what he had tripped over, and then the rest passed by in a blur- Silently staring at Taryn for a long while, taking the two bodies to the Headquarters, explaining what happened to Dumbledore, slurring his words as he spoke.

James and Lily came to the Headquarters as soon as they heard the news. Lily's face was red from tears, though Sirius wasn't sure if she was still crying, because it had started raining again, and both she and her husband were soaked with water.

"Sirius…" James said, walking over to him. "Are you okay?"

Sirius shook his head silently. He was far from okay. He felt like he'd _never_ be okay. _Never_.

Sirius continued to stare forward at the wall. Just a few hours ago he had been staring at the same wall, but out of boredom. Now, he was staring out of pure emptiness.

"Sirius, I know how you feel…" Lily whispered, wringing the water from her hair.

Slowly, he turned his head to look at her. "No, you don't." He stood up. "Nobody does."

"Sirius, we understand that-"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW I FEEL, JAMES! I FOUND MY GIRLFRIEND DEAD IN MY HOUSE, NOT FAR FROM MY DEAD EX-GIRLFRIEND. DO YOU KNOW WHAT ONE OF THE LAST THINGS SHE SAID TO ME WAS?" He yelled. "SHE SAID THAT SHE WISHED SHE HAD NEVER EVEN _MET_ ME!"

Lily stared. "Taryn would never say that.." She said quietly, but neither James nor Sirius paid attention to her.

"OH, YOU THINK IT'S SOOO HARD FOR YOU, RIGHT, SIRIUS? I HOPE YOU HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN THAT JUST A WEEK AND A HALF AGO, THE DEATH EATERS KILLED BOTH OF MY PARENTS. AND I'M NOWHERE NEAR FROM RECOVERED FROM THAT, AND THEN I GET THIS CALL THAT MY FRIEND DIED. YES, TARYN WAS MY FRIEND TOO, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED!"

"OH YEAH? WELL I LOVED HER, OKAY?"

'WELL SO DID LILY AND I! I KNOW I MAY NOT HAVE BEEN AS CLOSE TO HER AS YOU WERE, BUT SHE STILL WAS MY FRIEND. SO DON'T YOU THINK THAT YOU'VE GOT IT SO HARD, 'CAUSE YOU DON'T."

Sirius, not able to think of a clever reply, sat back down on the floor and resumed staring forward at the wall.

Lily looked at James, who was trying his best to calm down now. Then, she kneeled down next to Sirius and calmly and quietly started talking, "Sirius, I know how much Taryn meant to you. She was my best friend. Remember when I told you to accept the fact that others understand you. This is one of those moments where that comes in handy. Think about it."

O0o0O


End file.
